ONE hundred years of the The Dilke hospital in Cinderford was celebrated on Saturday (June 10).

The Friends of The Dilke organised a celebration which included music from the Berry Hill Band and the Drybrook and District Ladies’ Choir.

There were also circus skills and balloon modeller Carl John.

Outpatients’ Sister Denise Edmunds – who has worked at the hospital for more than 30 years – Staff Nurse Tina Hale and Healthcare Assistant Lisa Wood wore historic nurses uniforms.

Mr Bob Young, of The Friends of the Dilke, said: “It was fitting that the Scouts were providing hotdogs completing 60 years of support.”

The event is the last at the current site of the hospital as the new hospital in Cinderford is due to open in February next year.

Opening the event, Mr Young gave a short history of the founding of the hospital.

Following the death of the former Liberal MP for the Forest, Sir Charles Dilke in 1911, it was agreed that a fitting memorial would be a hospital and should be called The Dilke Memorial Hospital.

“It was to be sited in the centre of the Forest and it’s mines.

“This was a much-needed facility because men injured in the mines would have been taken by horse-drawn ambulance, which was based at Cannop, to either Monmouth or Gloucester Hospital.

“This considerable journey took it’s toll on the men requiring urgent medical attention, many not making the journey.

“Fund raising began in earnest and eventually the hospital opened its doors in June1923.

“The first child born at the hospital was given the middle name Dilke.

“The Friends wish to thank everyone for their continued support over many years.”