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Our history

Timeline

1980
1980

The Friends of the Sick Kids

The Friends of the Sick Kids

Anaesthetist Dr Richard Burtles formally founds ‘The Friends of the Sick Kids’, starting with a fete in the hospital car park to fundraise for a new scanner.

1984
1984

One Stop Shop

One Stop Shop

The ECHC Shop begins as a stall in the hospital reception. It has since moved location seven times, including a brief stint in a shed in the Sick Kids car park! Find out more about our hospital shop here.

1991
1991

Come As You Are

Come As You Are

Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl from Nirvana play a benefit gig at Edinburgh’s The Southern Bar to raise funds for The Sick Kids. Listen to a recording here.

1994
1994

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation

The charity joins forces with the TASK Appeal – which raised over £10m to build new operating theatres and the hospital emergency department – and becomes the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.

2007
2007

£1million of Life-Changing Grants

£1million of Life-Changing Grants

For the first time, we award over £1million to fund life-changing equipment, projects and services at the Sick Kids and other children’s healthcare settings, including over £522k for a pioneering CT Scanner.

2014
2014

Lights, Camera, Action

Lights, Camera, Action

We grant our largest ever award of £550k to fund a state-of-the-art Gamma Camera – the first of its kind for a children’s hospital in Scotland. The revolutionary scanner is instrumental in detecting life-threatening conditions like cancer and epilepsy.

2016
2016

New Name, Same Aim

New Name, Same Aim

With the announcement that the Sick Kids is to relocate to Little France and change its name, we take this positive opportunity to update our own – and so we become Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity.

2019
2019

Oor Wullie’s BIG Bucket Trail

Oor Wullie’s BIG Bucket Trail

We team up with Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity and the ARCHIE Foundation for Oor Wullie’s BIG Bucket Trail – the first ever nationwide public art trail – raising over £1.2m for Scotland’s children’s hospitals.

2021
2021

Our New Home!

Our New Home!

The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People opens in Edinburgh, for which we provide over £3.1m of funding towards the largest integrated Art and Therapeutic Design Programme in a children’s hospital setting anywhere in the UK. Find out more here.

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