Being a patient or working a shift at a hospital during the festive period is not most people’s idea of an ideal Christmas.
Below Terry O’Donoghue shares his research into how the festive season has been celebrated at the old and current West Suffolk Hospital sites in Bury St Edmunds – the first in Hospital Road and the existing one in Hardwick Lane – from Victorian times to, the slightly more recent, Millennium.
“While attitudes and fashion change, the one constant has been the inventive human spirit bringing some cheer onto the wards.”
Christmas at the old West Suffolk Hospital in 1927. Picture from Dr Ella Joyce Cockram’s collection
The 1800s
Reports on Christmas celebrations during the 1800s are sparse.
Church services sat firmly at the centre of Christmas Day and small gifts to patients were of a strictly practical nature.
In 1887 bed jackets were donated to the men’s and women’s wards.
Christmas in the late 1920s. Picture from Dr Ella Joyce Cockram’s private collection
Festive food comprised of pheasant and hares donated by local landowners.
Though decorations were frowned upon, in 1887 the Bury and Norwich Post reported: “The upper women’s ward and the Chapel have, however, been made exceptions, and a little decoration has been introduced with good effect by the matron – Miss Shaw.”
The 1900s
By the early 1900s, attitudes had changed and in Christmas 1907 two of the wards were literally transformed with an oriental and Japanese theme.
Turkey had made its way onto the festive menu and eight were donated from various families, as well as hot house grapes from the Hardwick House estate.
The war years
Years leading up to the outbreak of the Great War heralded some relaxation in staff discipline.
In 1911 the nurses were granted a Christmas dance to which they could invite a friend.
Sadly, the nurses blotted their copybook the following year, the hospital committee had to pay Mr Fulcher £21 in compensation for the loss of his sheep in a field adjoining the hospital.
The nurses had discarded decorations made from poisonous yew clippings into his field.
With the opening of a dedicated children’s ward in 1913, more in the way of entertainment was put on by the hospital staff and Father Christmas, complete with gifts for the children, became an annual feature of the festivities.
The rhythm of life was shattered by the onset of the Great War and as a designated war hospital for treating wounded servicemen the Christmases for the next four years were very different.
Recognising the wounded soldiers in their ‘Hospital Blue’ uniforms, the community ensured that they were afforded as many Christmas treats and entertainments as possible.
The extraordinary hard work of the matron and nursing staff during World War One was brought into sharp focus, while ensuring all patients both military and civilian enjoyed their Christmas Day, Boxing Day became the day they could find some relaxation with a festive dinner and entertainment.
In 1916, the chairman of the board, Rev J S Holden, assisted by Miss Holden, carved and served the nurses dinner.
Soldiers were invited to a whist drive organised by the sisters.
Following the armistice in 1918 and for most of the inter-war years, Christmas was just like those pre-war, the only addition being the mayoral photo opportunity in the children’s ward.
Christmas of 1939, the first after the outbreak of the second world war, witnessed an attempt to ignore the turmoil outside its wards, with the children’s ward decorated as a farmyard scene, the women’s ward an alpine scene; and maternity transformed into fairyland.
The war did creep in, the men’s ward had an RAF theme.
West Suffolk Hospital at Christmas in the late 1940s. Picture: Terry O’Donoghue’s collection
Christmas stockings filled with ‘all manner of good things’ appeared overnight on the patients’ beds.
The medical staff in costumes reflecting the various ward themes, carved the turkey.
By Christmas 1944 war weariness had infected festivities.
Even considering the challenges from widespread snow, any celebration was far more muted, although Dr Bird, as Father Christmas, traditionally distributed gifts to the children on Boxing Day.
The 1950s
Recovery from war was slow but by Christmas 1953 life seemed to be improving, the Matron making headlines in the Bury Free Press with the quote: “This was our gayest Xmas for fourteen years”.
She reported that donations of food, gifts, and decorations had reached record levels.
Even the staff reflected a renewed enthusiasm, being dressed in carnival attire.
The maternity ward also joined in with four Christmas Day babies.
The carnival theme was markedly different from the 1950 hunting theme, where surgeon Mr T Williams dressed up as a huntsman, complete with hunting horn on a pantomime horse (male nurses Boam and Matter), pursued Mr Reynard (Dr Lovell).
The Millennium and modern times
In recent living memory, the Millennium Christmas of 1999 was noticeable for several reasons.
RAF Wattisham Airfield Search and Rescue dispensed with the traditional sleigh and delivered gifts to the newly refurbished children’s ward by helicopter.
The staff working over this period, especially the new year, were given free party packs including non-alcoholic sparkling wine, free parking, and £100 bonus for working New Year’s Eve.
An infamous patient that Christmas was the Moors murderer, Myra Hindley, suffering a suspected stroke.
Now as we arrive at Christmas Day 2024, it has probably been seven months in the planning to ensure a special day for all ages who find themselves guests of the hospital, or working those festive shifts.
The eight turkeys of 1907, contrast with 90kg prepared by the catering team in 2023, alongside 85 portions of vegan nut roast and 100 portions of Christmas pudding and brandy sauce.
Historian and researcher Terry O’Donoghue works as a tour guide for the Bury St Edmunds Association of Registered Tour Guides.
You can find out more about the tours here.