Making the NHS Giants.

Once the design had been completed, templates were printed which in turn were transferred to up-cycled boards. The NHS figures were all individually hand cut and sanded. Details such as hair, arms, masks, etc, were drawn onto plastic templates and then painstakingly transferred using carbon paper to the figures which had all received a coat of black paint on the backs and a base grey coat on the front.

Meanwhile, several tons of steel rods were being cut, bent, welded, and painted whilst hundreds of bracket fixing were being cut, drilled, and painted.

Once the painting of the figures was completed, they were riveted onto the steel frames.

Many late evenings, long weekends, and huge generosity of time and willingness from our fantastic team of volunteers has brought this remarkable installation to life.

Designing the NHS Giants.

All of our figures began as original photographs of NHS staff which have been adjusted and manipulated to create the final characters you see here. We considered job roles, uniform styles and colours, gender, hair and skin colour, ethnicity and religion, whilst creating our designs and have hopefully covered a good general cross-section of people.

Every element of the design process and figure style was given a unique reference code to ensure that those volunteers who were painting the figures knew exactly what colour was to go where!

In total, there are 60 different design/colour combinations - which comprise of 4 sets of 15 figures. Each set includes 2 doctors, 7 nurses, 3 scrubs, 1 porter and 2 paramedics.

Each set of 15 will eventually go on tour around the UK as part of a bigger installation - continuing to raise funds for NHS charities whilst keeping the memory of the dedication and losses made by the NHS during this extraordinary time.

NHS Charities Together.

It’s hard to imagine what our NHS teams have been through – and continue to endure – as they help to care for huge numbers of patients affected by Covid-19.

So it’s hardly surprising that many staff are also dealing with anxiety, depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder and still need our support.

Throughout the crisis, thanks to your donations, we’ve made a difference by funding support and counselling for thousands of NHS staff. But the scale of the challenge is so vast we still need to be there for them, so that they can carry on with their vital work.

 With your help, we’ll keep on caring for them – now and in the months and years to come. The NHS has done an amazing job tackling the pandemic, but at the most challenging time in its history, it needs us all more than ever.

Launch event.

We were honoured to be joined be so many NHS staff (with one travelling down from Yorkshire to be part of it), Cllr. Mark Lygo, Oxford’s current Lord Mayor, representatives from NHS Charities Together, Oxford City Council, our sponsors, and many others - thank you all enormously for your support.

Our volunteers have done a wonderful job in creating this impressive and sobering installation and as always, we are truly indebted to them for their goodwill, dedication, humour, and determination - thank you all so much