RETIRED Westbury GP Peter Ager has been lending his expertise to the latest exhibition at the Westbury Museum.
The exhibition, ‘Hospitals Healthcare and Home Remedies’ runs until the end of April and tells the history of the three hospitals that used to be in Westbury. It also has photographs, medical exhibits, pills and potions as well as a peek into medicines used in bygone times. Visitors get the chance to add their own family remedies as part of the exhibition.
Dr Ager penned his memories of working in general practice including the move from Eastleigh in Station Road to the new health centre at Leigh Park. He also recalls the treatments and facilities that were once available at the hospital in the Butts, even remembering when Christmas Day would see doctors and their families visiting hospital patients to give them seasonal greetings. His reading of his memories has now been set to images on the museum’s display screen as part of the exhibition.
Visitors to the museum are greeted by a mannequin in a nurse’s uniform and cape, and exhibits ranging from a Victorian bedpan through to advertisements of once-available quack cures that included everything from laudanum to opium!
There are photographs of the doctors at Eastleigh along with century old images of the hospitals that stood in Westbourne Road and Haynes Road, and of fundraising carnivals that were held in the town to raise money for the hospitals. There is also information about the League of Friends and about the town’s battle to save the hospital.
The museum is on the first floor of the town library and is open on Monday afternoon, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday morning. More information is available at www.westburyheritagesociety.org.uk
