Backing the Stars of the Future: Blond McIndoe Autumn Reception
On Tuesday 22 September, friends and supporters of the Foundation gathered in the Lumley Library at the Royal College of Surgeons of England for the Blond McIndoe Autumn Reception to meet the researchers behind our work, with our Royal Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, in attendance.
Since our partnership with the College began in 2017, we have supported 20 Fellowship and Pump Priming grants worth more than £478,000. This year's reception put the people behind that funding in front of those who make it possible, with four grant recipients beside their posters all evening, explaining their work to guests.
Our Chairman, Mr Gordon Montfort Bebb KC, a grandson of Sir Archibald McIndoe, welcomed guests. Mr Tim Lane, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, then thanked our supporters and spoke about the importance of surgical research.
The evening's presentation, "Infection after hand and wrist injury", came from Mr Justin Wormald, our Research Fellow for 2019/20. His work shows how far early funding can go. A Research Fellowship, co-funded with the College, helped launch his research, and a Pump Priming Award from the Foundation took it further.
That early funding of £79,000 has since helped to bring in more than £820,000 of follow-on funding. This includes a £500,000 NIHR grant for HAWAII DRIFT, a trial now recruiting across 25 NHS sites. It aims to settle whether the metal wires that hold broken hand bones in place should be left exposed or buried beneath the skin.
Her Royal Highness then met Justin and three fellow grant recipients at their stands, accompanied by our Trustee, Mr Tim Goodacre:
Miss Jessica Roberts (Research Fellow, 2023/24), examining how the immune system responds to materials designed to regenerate bone, using human cells rather than animal models
Mr Christopher Bricogne (Pump Priming recipient, 2025/26), investigating whether a donor skin patch transplanted alongside a lung can give early warning of transplant rejection
Miss Zita Jessop (Pump Priming recipient, 2021/22), using 3D bioprinting to develop tissue for surgical reconstruction
Many guests told us how inspiring they found the researchers. Around the library, display boards traced the Foundation's story from Sir Archibald McIndoe's wartime work with the Guinea Pig Club to the research we fund today.
We were delighted to welcome our Patrons, Amanda Redman MBE and Lord Marks of Broughton, along with colleagues from the College. The Guinea Pig connection was close at hand too, with Russell Foxley, son of Guinea Pig Bill Foxley, and Andrew Perry, a Trustee of the McIndoe's Guinea Pigs Memorial Trust, among the guests, alongside our Trustees, donors and long-standing supporters.
Our thanks go to Her Royal Highness for her continued support, to our grant recipients for giving up their evening, and to the College, with whom we hosted the evening.
Help fund what comes next
To find out more about the research we fund, or to make a donation or leave a legacy, please email admin@blondmcindoe.org.
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