A donation to the Friends has been made in memory of a voluntary nurse who used to work at one of North Walsham’s wartime hospitals caring for injured soldiers.

Constance Walker was a member of the well- known Walker family who co-ran Ebridge Mill with the Cubitts.

But granddaughter Celia Scott says Constance carried out a voluntary nursing role in at the Red Cross auxiliary hospitals set up in the town to help injured First World War troops.

“She was given a beautiful topaz brooch engraved with grateful thanks from the hospital. It is still in the family today –in Victoria, Canada,” said Mrs Scott, 85 a retired occupational therapist from Barton Turf whose family home used to be in Bacton.

“I saw the news article about the Friends and their involvement in funding replicas of the old hospital flags – and wanted to make a donation to them. It is in memory of my granny, but also to help the work of the current day hospital.”

Mrs Walker was born in North Walsham in 1872, the daughter of local solicitor William Empson. In married life she used to live in a house virtually opposite the current War Memorial Hospital. The hospital Constance worked in was one of two on Mundesley Road set up just for the war.

 

Mrs Scott, like many supporters of the hospital, has family connections with its work, as her sister had two babies in the previous unit, which included maternity beds, just after the Second World War.

Family pictures show Constance Walker as a young woman posed by a fireplace, and (far right) riding in the family De Dion car with husband George and Mrs Scott’s aunt Beryl and mother Dorothy.

If you would like to support the work of the North Walsham War Memorial Hospital League of Friends through a donation send it to the treasurer Carol Willgress, 28 Beechlands Park, Southrepps, NR11 8NT, or call 01263 833733.