with £40,000 lottery grant

A history project that will record the memories of former patients and staff at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, has been awarded a £40,000 grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Oral History Project will help preserve the memories of staff and patients who were part of the hospital’s developments and advances between 1945 and 2000.  Contributors will record their experiences as oral histories so that they can share their memories with a wider audience and help bring the hospital’s history to life. The Heritage Lottery Fund grant will mean that the project organisers, the Queen Mary’s Hospital Archive Group, can invest in specialist recording equipment and train volunteer interviewers.

The history project also coincides with the NHS’s 60^th anniversary celebrations and to mark the event exactly 60 staff or patients will have their oral histories recorded. The Oral History Project exhibition will tour local museums, libraries and schools, and be on display at Queen Mary's Hospital.

Gordon Jones, Oral History Project organiser, said “We are delighted to have received this grant because it means we can now start to record the history of Queen Mary’s Hospital. The project should help bring the hospital’s history to life for people of all ages. We also hope to be able to explore a number of medical and social themes, such as the impact of becoming disabled on your family, job and self-esteem.”

Sue Bowers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund, London, said “Throughout its history Queen Mary’s Hospital has contributed to important developments in medical science and practice, particularly in connection with the treatment of those requiring artificial limbs, not to mention those afflicted by thalidomide or tropical diseases. As we approach the 60th anniversary of the NHS it is timely that recollections and experiences of those who have worked or who have been treated at the hospital should be preserved for the future.”

June 27, 2008