Helen Taylor Thompson OBE FRSA
During the war I was in SOE (FANYs)
Afterwards I ran the family business and when that was ultimately sold I started my own property business
In 1952 I was elected on the Board of Mildmay Misson Hospital and after working on a number of Government NHS committees, ended as a Regional nomination on the Tower Hamlets Health Authority.
Mildmay came under the NHS axe in 1982. I led delegations to the Minister of Health and others to keep the hospital open, but all failed.
In 1985 Mildmay was given back to its original owners as a result of my negotiations and I as its Chairman opened the first hospice in Europe for people with AIDS in 1988. It is now a specialist hospital caring for those with AIDS and brain impairment. . During my time as chair I gave many presentations including one to the World Health Conference at the Vatican. I am now the President..
At the request of the Ugandan Government I was involved in starting a Centre in Kampala to care for those with AIDS.
In 1995 at the request of Cardinal Hume, I with Adele Blakebrough and Andrew Mawson organised the Great Banquet when 33,000 people in London sat down with people from every background to a meal. This was the start of us all working together to establish a new charity CAN (Community Action Network) which I still chair.
As a result of my experiences in the developing world I felt that something had to be done to prevent people, particularly children getting AIDS. In 2000 Thare Machi Education (originally Starfish Initiative) was born as a charity and which I chair. This uses interactive DVDs in lessons in the language of those we are working with. We are working with partners in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, India and Cambodia, and soon will be in DR Congo, Zambia and China.
In 1990 I was awarded the MBE and in 2005 the OBE.
I was until very recently a Trustee (retired after 10years) of St Peter & St James Hospice in Sussex,
I am a Patron of UWESO (Ugandan Women's Efforts to Save Orphans).
I am a Patron of Liberty (Nigeria)
I am a Vice President of The Friends of the Royal London Hospital which I founded and was its chairman for 8 years.
I am a Governor of Nutley Primary School (where I live).
I married in1954. I have 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren
