The Lewes Victoria Hospital is gearing up for a series of special events throughout 2010 to mark its centenary year.
The hospital's official 100th 'birthday' is the 2nd February which will be marked by the unveiling of a plaque with the help of some local children dressed in Edwardian costume.
Senior hospital manager David Jones says,
“The Lewes Vic is deeply rooted in the community, providing care for local people when they need it.
In turn we get loyal support from people living in Lewes and the surrounding area, especially our hard working League of Friends.
This 100 year celebration will last all year and will give us the chance to thank everybody who has been involved with the hospital, whether as a volunteer, a patient, a member of staff or by making a donation".
The Lewes Victoria Hospital League of Friends is planning a series of events throughout 2010 which include:
* Thursday 6th May an event for staff past and present.
* Saturday 26 June to Sunday 11 July there will be a variety of 30 shop window displays in Lewes including at the Town Hall.
* Saturday 3 July Open Garden event in Ringmer.
* Saturday 31 July Lewes Victoria Community Hospital Summer Fete.
* Wednesday 8th December Carol Concert at St John`s Church.
Key dates in the Lewes's healthcare history:
* 1742 the first public “pest house” was established on the comer of St Anne’s Crescent.
* 1847 the people of Lewes paid for the cost of a ’dispensary’ which was located in the bottleneck close to the Bull House. In the first year 557 patients were treated.
*1854 larger premises were purchased at the bottom of School Hill (where a bank is now located).
* 1887 the name Victoria was added in commemoration of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee and the building became known as The Victoria Hospital, Lewes, Dispensary and Infirmary.
* 1910 2 February a new hospital was opened on the present site by HRH Princess Henry of Battenburg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
There have been many upgrades of facilities and equipment since the hospital first opened and the building has been continually improved with help from local people and the League of Friends.
Facilities now include an operating theatre, minor injuries and outpatients units and light and airy wards for local people in need of nursing care.
It’s all very different from the ’pest house’ of 1742.
Photos from the hospital's archive show how much things have changed since the building first opened back in 1910.
Details of photos
1 1850's Victoria Hospital and Free Library, School Hill
2 Hospital opening in 1910
3 Matron Eleanor Poile (after whom a ward is still named) and staff in the 1930s
4 Nurses help open Lewes Odeon cinema in 1934
5 1960 Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
6 2009 Staff and members of the League of Friends at Meadow Lodge
7 November 2009 Polly Toynbee opening the new osteoporosis scanner with (from left Alice Webster Head of Adult Services, David Jones Senior Hospital Manager, Polly Toynbee, Jane McKenzie Bennett Radiography Lead and Nicholas Darby Chairman of the League of Friends.
