Sad News - Bill Taylor

The Friends of St Mary’s were very sad to hear that former colleague Bill Taylor passed away on 17th January. He had fought back against serious illness for a long time.

For many years, Bill was one of the Friends’ team on the early morning trolley rounds, where he was renowned for his kindness, good humour and efficiency. He was the stalwart of the weekend duties and was completely dedicated to his mission of bringing some sunshine to the wards (patients and staff alike) with a smile and lots of chocolate. Some 400 TeamIOWNHS Facebook likes and comments from staff who knew him tell of his smile, his cheerfulness and his caring nature.

Sadly, when Covid struck, the Friends were unable to carry on with the trolley service and Bill and his colleagues went on furlough until the long term future of the service became so uncertain that all the team were stood down. Bill was 84 at that time and had been with the Friends for 17 years.

We are thankful that Bill kept in touch with his ex colleagues at the Friends. We will all remember him with great respect and affection for his dedication, warmth and cast iron reliability. Our thoughts now are with his family and we wish them the strength to cope with the coming weeks.