We are raising money to support the John King Brain Tumour Foundations work and roof garden of the Atkinson Morley Wing at St Georges Hospital in Tooting. Garden Club London support volunteers in the upkeep and development of the roof garden adjacent to the neurosurgery ward which is a haven for patients and their families. The ambition of the foundation is to establish another roof garden area at the hospital establishing a 'Forest in the Sky' providing a green escape for staff and patients to enable the power of plants to help aid the recovery of patients and improve the wellbeing of NHS staff. With our sponsored Skydive we hope to be able to kickstart plans for the garden and develop the garden.

The John King Brain Tumour Foundation are a registered charity supporting the Atkinson Morley Wing of St George’s Hospital to treat brain diseases and disorders. They fundraise for surgical equipment not currently funded by the NHS and also the McKissock Ward roof garden which the foundation and  Garden Club London maintains by courtesy.

During 2020 they were able to raise £150,000 to purchase another state-of-the-art Zeiss surgical microscope for the hospital. This microscope along with the Zeiss Pentero 900 which they purchased in 2019 both enable surgeons to see further into the brain and thus be able to remove more of the tumour during surgery.

Not only will this increase patients’ life spans but also help Tim Jones, the Consultant Neurosurgeon at St. Georges, to provide training to his team. The new microscopes each have a “teaching arm” which allows medical students to watch the surgery and learn during live operations. Each microscope will be used approximately 1,200 times a year in theatre and will not only help adults and children with brain tumours but also will be used for other paediatric and adult neurosurgery including spinal cord surgery, repairing ruptured blood vessels in the brain, brain tumour removal and repair of spinal bifida in children, trauma and many other conditions.