Qurexa Logo
Qurexa

Trust. Care. Deliver.

Back to Blog & Insights
Health

A bronze statue of two boys, at the entrance of the school where it happened

Qurexa Editorial Team14 October 20266 min read 0 0
A bronze statue of two boys, at the entrance of the school where it happened

What happened

A permanent memorial has been created at a school in Hampshire to remember 122 boys who were given contaminated blood products while they were pupils there. The memorial stands at the entrance to Treloar's School and College in Holybourne, near Alton. It is a bronze statue of two boys on a stone plinth, with circular seating and a flower bed around it. The sculptor is Tom Murphy, who also made the Hillsborough Memorial. It was unveiled on Saturday 26 September 2026. According to local reporting, the unveiling was carried out by Sir Brian Langstaff, who chaired the Infected Blood Inquiry. The Cabinet Office published an account of it on 13 October 2026. The boys it remembers all had haemophilia, a condition in which blood does not clot properly. They were treated at the school in the 1970s and 1980s with blood products that were contaminated. They were infected with viruses including HIV and hepatitis C. The official account goes further than that. It states the boys were also subjected to medical research without their parents' knowledge or consent. The memorial was organised by survivors. Gary Webster, Steve Nicholls, Richard Warwick and Adrian Goodyear set up an independent group, the Treloar's Memorial Committee, to make it happen. The Cabinet Office funded it, with donations from Candour Productions, the company behind the ITV documentary about the school. It follows recommendations made in the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report.

Why this matters

The infected blood scandal is usually described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. What happened at Treloar's is one of its hardest chapters, because it happened to children, at school, in the place where they were supposed to be safest. Memorials are sometimes dismissed as symbolic. In this case the symbolism carries a specific weight. The statue stands at the entrance of the school itself. Anyone arriving - pupils, staff, parents, visitors - passes it. That was a choice, and it was the survivors' choice. It also matters because it came from a formal recommendation, not from goodwill alone. The Infected Blood Inquiry recommended memorialisation, and this is part of the government acting on it. That is how inquiry findings are supposed to work: they produce things you can point at afterwards. For families, there is a plainer reason. Many of the boys died young, and in a period when HIV carried a stigma that often kept deaths quiet. A named, public memorial does the opposite of quiet. And for anyone who uses health services today, the case remains a reference point for consent. The detail about research being carried out without parents' knowledge is not a footnote. It is why the rules about informed consent are as strict as they now are.

What the evidence actually says

The core facts here come from the government's own account and from the Infected Blood Inquiry, which spent years taking evidence, including from former Treloar's pupils. The number 122 is the figure used for the pupils with haemophilia treated at the school during that period, and it is the number recorded on the memorial. Reporting of the unveiling says the inscription remembers those 122 pupils, who were infected as children and were victims of unethical research. We are not going to quote a single figure for how many of them have since died. Published counts differ between sources, partly because they were compiled at different times and partly because they count slightly different things. The honest position is that most of the 122 did not survive, and that the exact number depends on which source and which date you use. On the two central allegations - contaminated blood products, and research without parental consent - the government's published account states both directly. That is not a campaign claim being reported second-hand. It is the position of the department that funded the memorial. What the published account does not contain is any named quotation from a minister or official. Baroness Twycross is listed as a contributing party but is not quoted. A recording of the unveiling has been made available online. If you want the full evidential basis rather than a summary, the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report is the primary document, and it is public.

Practical advice

Most readers will have no personal connection to this story. A few will, and the practical steps are different for each group. If you or a family member were treated with blood or blood products before the mid-1990s, and you have never been tested for hepatitis C, it is worth raising with your GP. Hepatitis C can sit quietly for decades and is now curable in the large majority of cases with a course of tablets. Testing is straightforward. If you were affected by the infected blood scandal, support and compensation arrangements exist and have changed over time. Do not rely on a news article, including this one, for the current rules. Go to the official sources or to one of the long-standing patient organisations, which can help with applications. If you want to understand the case properly, read the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report rather than coverage of it. It is long, but its summary sections are written to be read by the public. If you want to visit, the memorial is at the entrance to Treloar's School and College. It is a working school, so treat it as you would any other place of quiet remembrance on private land. And if you are ever asked to take part in research as a patient, or on behalf of a child, you are entitled to a clear explanation of what is involved and to say no without it affecting your care. That right exists in part because of what happened to these boys.

What to know

A bronze memorial to 122 boys with haemophilia, who were given contaminated blood products while pupils at Treloar's School in Hampshire in the 1970s and 1980s, was unveiled on 26 September 2026 and publicly reported by the Cabinet Office on 13 October 2026. The boys were infected with viruses including HIV and hepatitis C, and the government's account states they were also used in medical research without their parents' knowledge or consent. The memorial was driven by four survivors who formed their own committee, funded by the Cabinet Office with donations, and follows a recommendation of the Infected Blood Inquiry. If you had blood products before the mid-1990s and have never been tested for hepatitis C, ask your GP about a test. It is a simple one, and the treatment now works. Sources: GOV.UK / Cabinet Office, "Infected Blood Memorial Unveiled at Treloar's School", 13 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/infected-blood-memorial-unveiled-at-treloars-school; Irish News / Press Association, "Memorial created at school where boys were infected with HIV and hepatitis", September 2026, https://www.irishnews.com/news/uk/memorial-created-at-school-where-boys-were-infected-with-hiv-and-hepatitis-4UCOQEW7NNK6ZJWLB7KALRM624/; Hits Radio South Coast, "Memorial unveiled at Hampshire school for boys infected during blood treatment trials", September 2026, https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/hits-radio/south-coast/news/treloars-college-infected-blood-memorial-unveiled-holybourne This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. If you are worried you may have been exposed to hepatitis C or HIV through past treatment, speak to your GP about testing.

#infected blood#haemophilia#patient safety#public inquiry#NHS history#medical ethics

Related articles