Health care museum created in Chester

Claire Chatterton reports.

'I work in Manchester, but live in Chester, near the university. So when I found out that there was a historical society based at the University of Chester, in the Faculty of Health and Social Care, I emailed to find out more about their activities.

The society was formed in 2009 and consists of a group of people from the university staff and local community who are enthusiastic about, and interested in, the history of health and social care and who meet regularly at the university. I was made very welcome when I first joined the group and have enjoyed listening to a range of speakers and helping with a museum based there. The museum has its origins in a collection of items that were saved from the former Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum (also known as the Deva Hospital and the West Cheshire Hospital) but has grown to include items from other areas of health care and social care and  has had a variety of locations. The recent move of the faculty to a new campus by the river in Chester has led to its most recent home in the basement of the former Cheshire County Hall.

Members have worked hard to sort through and catalogue the large number of items that arrived in boxes, acquire display cases and to present items from the collection in an interesting and appealing way. In December 2011 an invited audience came to an evening entitled ‘Unwrapping the Past’ to hear presentations and preview a display of 101 items from the collection in the museum, including a fascinating letter written by Florence Nightingale (to the bereaved sister of a soldier in the Crimean War) and a pauper’s coffin.'

For further information about the society, please contact Barbara Holliday (B.Holliday@chester.ac.uk).