Thought for the Week

Last week I was privileged to take part in the service for unveiling a plaque remembering the use of Gateside School as a military hospital during World War I.

The old school was where Aldi now is, in Hamilton Road.

I had heard that the school had been used as a hospital, but did not know anything of that history.

The plaque gave an opportunity for people to share stories they had heard about the hospital.

Gateside was a new school, and had not yet admitted any children.

The building was very near the railway line, and that allowed wounded and sick soldiers to be transported from a temporary halt that was constructed nearby. Many of the patients were local. Someone I spoke to remembered that one of her uncles was treated for malaria there, and being able to be visited by relatives and friends would have been an important part of their healing.

Some of the patients came from further away, and we remembered 12 servicemen from Canada, Australia and New Zealand who died in the hospital.

It is good that the Memorial Garden Committee have worked so hard to keep this memory alive.

The plaque is a reminder of those who served in the armed forces, and the men and women who worked in the hospital to provide goods and services, cleaners and cooks, nurses and doctors, ward orderlies, people who visited the sick.

It is a reminder of a proud history, in which local people gave care and hospitality to those in need, both from near home and from distant countries.

Those memories of welcome and care continue to be an inspiration for us at a time when there are so many people in our community, both local and from farther afield, who need our support.