Max Wilkins

The butcher who became a volunteer

For almost three decades, Max Wilkins’ connection with St Andrew’s Hospital began before most people were awake.

While patients slept and staff prepared for the day ahead, Max was already arriving at the Hospital with fresh deliveries from his butcher shop.

What started with a small order for a pound and a half of steak grew into a relationship that lasted for decades and eventually saw him return after retirement as one of the Hospital’s best-known volunteers.

One and a half pounds of steak

Max operated Wilkins & Co. butcher shop on the corner of Druce and Fitzpatrick Streets. His first delivery to St Andrew’s came shortly after the Hospital opened in 1966.

The order was modest. Just one and a half pounds of steak for Matron Myra Blanch.

Looking for additional business, Max ventured into the kitchen and attempted to speak with a woman whose strong Scottish accent he found almost impossible to understand.

That woman turned out to be Cecilia Aitchison, the Hospital’s head caterer. The first conversations may have been confusing, but they were the beginning of a working relationship that would endure for 25 years.

Feeding a hospital

As business increased, Max became responsible for supplying much of the Hospital’s fresh meat. Every week he received orders in advance and made daily deliveries.

With limited refrigeration available, freshness mattered. That meant arriving around 5.00am each morning, when Nellie Higgins would often already be at work preparing breakfasts.

The menu was impressive. Patients regularly enjoyed roast pork, lamb chops, rib fillet and stewing steak. When Max once asked Cecilia Aitchison what patients would be served for Christmas, her reply became one of his favourite stories.

“They have Christmas dinner here every day.”

Returning as a volunteer

Max retired as a butcher in 1994. Many years later he found himself back at St Andrew’s in a different capacity.

In 2009 he became a volunteer driver for the Hospital’s People Mover golf buggy, transporting patients and visitors between car parks and departments. The role that suited him perfectly as he enjoyed helping people and chatting along the way.

Occasionally things became amusing. One passenger asked to be taken to his specialist appointment, only for Max to discover the doctor was actually located at a different hospital!

By the Hospital’s fiftieth anniversary Max was still volunteering. Patients know him as the friendly driver behind the wheel of the buggy. Long-serving staff remember him as the butcher who had supplied the Hospital for a quarter of a century.

His story reflects the broader St Andrew’s community. Not everyone contributed to the building of St Andrew’s through leadership roles or major donations. Some contributed through reliability, loyalty and a willingness to help whenever they were needed.

For fifty years, Max Wilkins did exactly that.