In June 2014 The Friends were honoured with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service 2014.

This unique UK national honour was created over a decade ago by Her Majesty to mark the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and to recognise the outstanding contributions made to local communities by groups of volunteers. It has an equivalent status for voluntary groups as the MBE has for individuals. The Friends were one of only 111 groups to receive this recognition and the only one from Warwickshire this year.

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The Friends support the Hospital of St Cross and the Community Service in Rugby by delivering a variety of voluntary services in the hospital and by donating equipment which improves patient experience or helps bring services to the town.

Trustees Willy Goldschmidt and Garth Murphy talk on this video  about the difference that The Friends of St Cross make for patients and staff at the hospital in Rugby. They highlight the scale of the charity and give examples of some of the projects the charity has supported, the importance of legacies as a stream of income and how a small donation of a bingo cage improved the patient experience and became the foundation for a new voluntary service and income stream that is designated to support the dialysis service at St Cross.

All the money donated is spent to provide equipment and deliver projects which have improved the patient experience in Rugby.

Our administration costs are kept under tight control and are paid for from earned income only.

Since 1955 we have raised over £4.8m and in the last 10 years have spent over £1.36m on equipment and projects!

The charity has a small team available to give talks about the history of the Hospital of St Cross, or St. Luke’s, and the work of The Friends.

St Cross was opened as long ago as 1884 and has an interesting history.

St Luke's was located on Lower Hillmorton Road and was originally the workhouse of the Rugby Union in 1819.

Want to know more? Please contact our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or ring our office on 01788 663754

We have speakers to suit any event and make no charge for this service.

This page provides links to recent accounts and AGM reports - click on the image of the front page or the links below.

The report for the year to 31st December 2016 presented on 28th June 2017 is available here 

The report for the year to 31st December 2015  presented on 28th June 2016 is available here

The report for the year to 31st December 2014 presented on 23rd June 2015 is available here 

The report for the year to 31st December 2013 presented on 16th June 2014 is available here 

The detailed accounts and annual return are available on the Charities Commission Website - This link will open in a separate tab but does not go direct to our page. Please enter our Charity Number - 218485 in the 'Charity Search' box at bottom of the left hand column in order to access our page.