(Photo credit: Stephen Danzig)
Watford MP Dean Russell attended the Leavesden Hospital History Association Reunion which took place in Leavesden Country Park.
The Leavesden Hospital History Association (LHHA) was founded in 2011 by Martin Brooks, former Park Ranger at Leavesden Country Park, for the purpose of preserving the history, heritage, memorabilia and memories of the doctors, nurses, staff, volunteers and residents who worked and lived at the Leavesden Asylum/Hospital.
From when it opened its doors in 1870 to when they closed for the last time in 1995, the Leavesden Asylum/Hospital was one of the largest employers in the area employing thousands of staff who came from as far away as Mauritius to work at what was then, a state of the art medical and mental health facility. This allowed for several generations of families to work at the hospital while raising their families in the nearby communities.
Shortly after the newly formed National Health Service took over the administrative running of the hospital in 1948, there were an estimated 3500 patients in the hospital and more than 1000 staff and volunteers either living on site or in the near-by staff housing which was provided by the hospital at the time.
Martin Brooks stated, “Over the last 13 years, I have spoken with many former staff and volunteers of the hospital and all of them have very happy memories of their time and experiences at the hospital and of the friendships they formed while working or studying there. Since the hospital closed, many of these staff members and volunteers have lost touch so this reunion was a fantastic opportunity to meet up, take a walk down memory lane together and look at all the artifacts and memorabilia on display.”
Dean Russell said “I had a fantastic time at the reunion and would like to thank Martin for organising such a wonderful event. It was fascinating to learn more about the history of the site, and I really enjoyed listening to the stories that the former staff and volunteers had to share.”
