What initially seemed like a wild, maverick idea to many was welcomed with enthusiasm by injured kids at Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton.

Nurse Charlie Windebank had a troublesome task when it came to treating children with broken bones who invariably became distraught upon having their arm or leg covered up by an uncomfortable plaster cast.

Speaking to the Daily Echo back then, Charlie said "It's hard enough keeping a young girl calm under normal circumstances; throw in something as traumatic as breaking her arm and you have quite the challenge."

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A unique trademark was started by Charlie when he had the idea to draw a budgerigar on a plaster cast in the hope to entertain the injured.

Another youngster noticed this original drawing, and soon Charlie's signature with the initial "NC" - for Nurse Chalie -  had become well-known in Southampton.

Daily Echo: Nurse Charlie Windebank drawing a budgie on a patient's plaster cast.

The fame of his bird drawings spread far beyond the city, as they were taken around the world by seamen or passengers who got plasters at the hospital where Charlie worked.

Throughout his career, thousands of plasters were decorated with his design and when it came time for the cast to be removed, Charlie saved them all and used them to decorate the plastering room at the hospital before he retired in the 1970s.