A new display tracing the history of Stroud General Hospital was recently unveiled in the main corridor leading from Bowbridge reception to mark 150 years of the hospital being at its present site.
The display, installed by Wheatley Printers earlier this month, was inspired by an exhibition at Stroud’s Museum in the Park in May which traced the hospital’s history and its importance to the community.
Dr Susie Weir, Trustee of the Stroud Hospitals League of Friends, told Stroud Times: “The timeline grew out of the idea we had for the exhibition at the museum celebrating 150 years of Stroud Hospital being on its current site and we thought it would be nice to have a more permanent timeline showing how the hospital has changed from when it moved here in 1875 on land donated by William Cowell and the very many changes that it’s gone through.
“In 1948 it became part of the NHS; Cashes Green Ward was built in 1993 after Cashes Green Hospital was closed, right up to the current day and the League of Friends has been very involved all the way through helping to provide funds to enhance and support the statutory stuff that the NHS is supposed to provide. We try and ‘put the cherry on the top’, make sure that we have state-of-the-art stuff and really good services for local people.
“All the money is originally from the people of Stroud, so it’s our duty as trustees to make sure that it’s used in the best possible way because it’s from donations, it’s from fundraising, it’s from all sorts of bequests and people have donated their money because they want this to be a lovely hospital, which it is.”
Fellow Trustee Nick Hurst added: “This display is a combination of significant work which Susie and I put in, and we are recognising 150 years of the history of the hospital since it was originally funded and built. The money was found by public subscription, a lot of it came out of Freemasonry.”
Dr Weir added: “Later this year we will be installing several brass memorial plaques commemorating the generous donations and sponsorship of beds before the advent of the NHS. These plaques have been stored for years in an office but with some restoration they will look splendid on the walls in the large stairwell leading up to Cashes Green ward.”
