Dear fellow Listers,
( slightly off topic )
For the past 4 years I have been reseaching the history of the Pontypool &
District Hospital, Monmouthshire. To date I have gleaned a reasonable amount
of material with regard to the actual building and those wonderful people who
gave their hard earned pennies every week, for the up-keep of the
Institution, as well as those stalwarts of the community who gave of their
time to run the administration of the Hospital up to 1948 and the advent of
the NHS.
I would be eternally grateful for any information relating to the Hospital
and from anyone who has personal experiences of working there between 1903
and 1993, when it sadly closed owing to the deterioration of the building,
and the millions of pounds needed to bring up to todays standards.
Although I am in favour of this magnificent building remaining as an example
of its past, I am not in any way connected with the group who are fighting to
get the Hospital re-instated, although I do sympathise with them.
Part of the annexe of the Hospital was Cefn Ila at Usk, and I would like to
hear from anyone with relatives who worked at this establishment. Not
necessarily nursing and medical staff, but those who supplied materals and
foodstuffs to the Hospital.
The Smallpox Isolation Hospital at The Beeches ,Trevethin is another
Institution that I am researching in conjunction with the Pontypool Hospital,
and I would welcome any information with its regard.
While undertaking this task, I happened upon some very interesting material
of the health of the district from the 19th & 20th century. It decribes the
accommodation of the inhabitants and the poverty and deprivation we are all
aware of, but stating individual names and addresses of those afflicated and
the owners of the properties they lived in, which can paint a more vivid
picture of the life in the valley at that time.
I apologise for being off topic, but I need more personal experiences
relating to these establishments, in order to find the reality of the day.
Kind regards
Warren W Lewis ( Pontypool )