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It is hard for us in the 21st
century to imagine a hospital in Heswall but for many years there were
two. The foundation stone for Heswall Cleaver
(consumption) or the West Derby, Liverpool and Toxteth Park Joint
Hospital as it originally known ,took place on October 25th 1901.The
hospital was situated in Oldfield Road and it remained in service as a
hospital until it closed in 1974.
The other hospital was originally known as The Royal Liverpool Country
Hospital for children and
later as The Royal Liverpool Children' Hospital. This was situated in
Telegraph Road on the present site of
Tesco. The foundation stone for this hospital was laid on April
21st 1905 and it continued as a hospital until its closure in 1985.
Cleaver Hospital
This hospital opened officially on 20th October 1902 .By the 1920s it was
known as Cleaver Sanatorium after Mr HP Cleaver who was the inspiration
behind its founding. From 1913 until 1930 the hospital was used for
children only. In 1939 the children were evacuated to Rhuddlan and adults
were then admitted.
The name of the hospital was changed again to Cleaver Hospital instead of
Sanatorium in 1950.
After closure in June 1983, the land was sold in 1988 for £2.5 million,
the hospital demolished and Oldfield Gardens built on the site. The nurses
home still remains as Cleaver Residential Home.
The foundation stone was laid by The Rt. Hon Walter H Long M.P. In 1924
extensions were added to the hospital
and a tablet commemorating this was unveiled on September 8th 1924,
by William Roberts J.P. who was the chairman of the Sanatorium Committee.
A chapel attached to the hospital was dedicated in the 1960s and a
hospital school was also based there for some years. Being a sanatorium it
was sited on the edge of the River Dee because the air was reputed to be pure which helped to restore the health of the tubercular patients.
In an article written by a young patient in 1957 the
daily routine was described as beginning at 6.30 am
Bed at 8.30pm with meals and school in between . Those patients on
'hours' were allowed to walk around the grounds in the afternoon. Visiting
days were Wednesday and Saturday when bus services were laid on to the
hospital. A
fund raising committee known as 'The Cleaver League of Friends '
would hold fairs each year which were popular with Heswall Residents .
Whist Drives were held there during the 40s and 50s . The Home Guard and the
fire service used the hospital during WW2.
The Royal Liverpool Childrens Hospital
The foundation stone for this hospital on Telegraph Road was laid on April
21st 1905 . The 9 acre site was bought for £2,500 in 1900. The tower and
clock were completed in 1911. On Feb 15th 1909 the hospital was ready for
its first patients . The open air wards were a feature of the hospital
assuming once more that the clean air of the area would be beneficial to
its patients. These wards were opened in 1930 . During the air raid of May
1941 when several people lost their lives when incendiary bombs were
dropped in Heswall. An incendiary device fell through the roof of the
matron's car. Unfortunately the car was destroyed by the time the A.F.S
had finished hosing it.
Patients came from a wide area and many of the children would only have visitors once a week. Many of the cases were long stay
patients with hip problems. In 1963
the league of friends was formed and in succeeding years raised over
£20,000 . The largest
expenditure was the adventure playground, a landscaped area with paved
paths to enable the children in wheelchairs
to explore the playground.
In 1912 under the headship of Miss Chaplin ,a special school was formed
and is believed to be one of the first such schools in the country .This
continued until the 80s. On 29th January 1910 , Edward VII
granted the hospital the right to call itself Royal .The hospital
was the dream of Dr Charles MacAlister
, and Mr Robert Jones who
later in life was to be knighted and
would become a world famous orthopaedic
physician ,to build the
long stay residential hospital
in Heswall . Wards in the hospital were named after them . The hospital
was closed in 1985 because of
changes in care . Many of the diseases treated in the hospital
had thankfully been
conquered but nevertheless it
was sad to see such a fine building go.
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