The History of Get A-Head

On the 20th January, 1994 John Watkinson and Adrian Drake-Lee, together with the help of Peter Scudamore (our patron), Dr Hilary Jones and the late Roy Castle formed 'Get A-Head'. The aim at that time was to raise £1m in three years to fund education, research and purchase of vital medical equipment. Over the years, Get A-Head has funded various research projects such as thyroid cancer and has employed a number of researchers. We've bought over £500,000 worth of equipment, providing much needed support to the hospital ward, East 5. We also currently fund various posts within our organisation including the innovative post of Clinical Audit Project Manager and Specialist Head & Neck Counsellor. Funding is also provided by Get A-Head to offer our patients FREE complementary therapies such as Reflexology & Aromatherapy and now Acupuncture & Chinese Massage. John Watkinson (our co-founder) and his team, have also produced numerous editorials / papers to support the fight against cancer and as such we also conduct a week long course specifically aimed at training Senior Registrars and Consultants in how to treat patients with head and neck diseases. Please see our COURSE page for more information on that. For the last 10 years Get A-Head have been lucky enough to have many hard working volunteers and personnel, such as Val Spittle our Appeals Director, who have been inaugral in making all of this happen. However, December 2004 saw Val move onto pastures new, so we've taken a year out to re-evaluate and revamp the charity. Over the years we have raised a whopping £2 million pounds which has been used to fund all of the above but now the 21st century sees Get A-Head entering a new phase in fundraising and so we re-launched the charity on 5th May, generating a new beginning. We hope that by doing this we'll increase awareness of our work and encourage regular donations either on-line or via standing order... see the HOW TO GIVE page for more details... (Get A-Head is based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, within the departments of ENT/Head & Neck & Maxillofacial surgery).

Lets 'Get A-Head', Not Bury our Heads...

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