Dr David James, who ran our first tissue typing laboratory
1986 14 Anthony Nolan donors are used for transplant.
100,000 new donors were recruited in a six week period through a nation-wide series of clinics organised by The National Association of Round Tables of Great Britain and Ireland in conjunction with Woolworth stores. This effort, achieved in just six weeks, more than doubled the size of the Register and put The Anthony Nolan Trust on the international map.
The accounts for 1986 show a financial requirement of £233,000.
1988 In 1988 the St Mary Abbots Hospital site was sold for redevelopment and a new home had to be found for the charity which now employed 20 scientists and administrative staff. The Anthony Nolan Trust had been very happy at St Mary Abbots and the move was an enormous wrench, particularly since all 100,000 donors from the 1986 recruitment drive had been tested there. It was then that the Royal Free Hospital in north London came to the rescue with the offer of space in its car park, and in six temporary buildings. The Anthony Nolan Research Centre was established.
The Anthony Nolan Trust becomes a founder member of Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide, the organisation established to facilitate international searches for bone marrow donors. The BMDW now represents over 50 registries around the world, and provides access to over 9.5 million donors.
In the same year, our current Chairman, Simon Dyson is elected. Simon Dyson had been presided over The Round Table’s groundbreaking campaign on the Anthony Nolan’s behalf in 1986. The energy and commitment of Round Table in this, its Diamond Jubilee Year raised almost £1 million, to enable the construction and equipping of the new laboratories.
Round Table has continued to support the Anthony Nolan, and there's hardly a week-end goes by in the UK that doesn't see at least one Tabler hanging by a rope from a very high building or jumping out of an aeroplane! It would be true to say that without the continuous support of The National Association of Round Tables of Great Britain and Ireland, The Anthony Nolan Trust would not exist today.
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