A Trust member has donated a rare historical artefact to provide a fitting tribute to Her Majesty The Queen in this, her Diamond Jubilee year.

Mr J Taylor, from Kings Norton in Birmingham, dug out his special edition souvenir marking the Queen’s coronation after reading the story of George and Margaret Weil. They had featured in the last edition of Trust in the Future – the magazine for members of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) – after finding their 1934 commemorative programme in a loft and presenting it to the Trust.

Mr Taylor’s treasured item, a brochure published in 1953, was issued to commemorate the Queen’s coronation and an original letter issued from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s then House Committee. Almost 60 years later, the brochure and letter have made their way back to the QE to be included in the Histories Project archives.

The coronation brochure is the only official hospital document found to date which bears the image of Queen Elizabeth II – a portrait of the young Queen famously captured by photographer Dorothy Wilding.

It includes around 30 images depicting the life and workings of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, a ‘short history’ of the hospital and a personal tribute to the newly-crowned Queen: “On March 1st, 1939, Her Majesty the Queen Mother bestowed her name on the great Hospital illustrated in the following pages.

“This special edition is issued as a small token of admiration, loyalty of all connected with the Hospital for her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, on the occasion of her Coronation, June 2^nd, 1953.”

Although written some six decades earlier, descriptions of the hospital’s ethos reflect the values held by the Trust today: “It [the QE] stands as the embodiment of a partnership between hospital practice and medical research and combines experience and knowledge for the achievement of fresh triumphs in the art of science and healing.”

Mr Taylor, who echoes the sentiments in the coronation brochure, says having visited the hospital on two recent occasions he is “very pleased and impressed with the new building and the quality and care of the staff”.