A MAN has left a large donation to a hospital to them them for the care he received as a child.

Norman Barton, decided to donate £20,000 to the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) for the care he received for many years after being born with club feet.

Mr Barton, from St Martins, spent a large part of his childhood at RJAH undergoing operations and treatment to rectify his condition.

At less than a month old, Mr Barton - who died in November 2016 - was admitted to the children’s ward and spent a large part of his first five years at RJAH, and then another year at the age of 8.

His brothers, Alan and Leonard, paid a visit to the hospital to hand over the donation.

Mr Barton asked for the money to be divided between three areas at the hospital.

A total of £10,000 was left to the Children’s Unit fund, £5,000 to the Arthritis and Rheumatism fund and the last £5,000 to the Orthopaedic Research Children’s Centre (TORCH).

Alan said: “Norman really valued the care he received whilst he was growing up and had such a strong relationship with the hospital, especially the children’s unit.

“He used to describe his time in hospital as a child as frightening, but always said how kind and caring the staff were to him.”

Mr Barton organised many fundraising events for RJAH and donated significant amounts of money to the children’s unit throughout his life.

In 1980 he raised £840, around £3,500 in today’s money, from riding a unicycle for eight miles which allowed the ward to purchase two paediatric beds and a cot.

Suzanne Marsden, children’s unit manager, said: “Mr Barton has left an extremely generous amount of money which will make such a difference to our patients and the time they spend in hospital.

“I speak for everyone on Alice Ward and in Children’s Outpatients when I say we are eternally grateful for his ongoing support throughout his life and his legacy donation.”

Chief executive Mark Brandreth said: “It’s clear that Mr Barton has been a long standing fundraiser for RJAH and for that we are so thankful.

“His legacy donation is an extremely generous one and it’ll make such a difference to the lives of our patients.”