On Monday 24 May 2010, the Queen Mary’s Hospital Archive & Museum Group held the official opening of the hospital’s museum. The red ribbon was cut by Stuart Reeves, Associate Chief Operating Officer for Adult and Specialist Services and was the culmination of years of hard work, fundraising and research carried out by the Group and its volunteers.

The museum includes examples of artificial limbs from as early as 1915, as well as medical instruments, drawings and doctors’ notes. The centrepiece is a console that will show an 11 minute rolling loop of film taken at the hospital in WW1 and WW2 and there is also a touch screen computer, which will allow visitors to access 33 sound bites from oral histories from patients and staff. The current exhibition, ‘Repairing the Ravages of War 1915-60’, deals especially with the treatment of amputees, burns and plastic surgery cases and the tropical disease problems of the Far East Prisoners of War.

In addition, as part of the Group’s oral history project, we have created a mobile version of the museum to take to exhibitions and lectures in the community. Its next stop is the Putney Library, where it will be displayed from 11– 30 July 2010.

Gordon Jones, Chairman of the Archive & Museum Group said:
‘I would advise anyone interested in local history to come along to the Douglas Bader Unit and learn a little more about the hospital’s fascinating past . Since its opening in 1915, Queen Mary’s has been known as one of the world’s leading limb fitting and amputee rehabilitation centres and we hope that it’s rich tradition of state of the art treatment coupled with superb patient care will carry on for many years to come’

 

July 2, 2010