Hospital to hold free garden fete in celebration of NHS 70th anniversary

The NHS celebrates its 70^th anniversary on Thursday 5^th July and staff and volunteers at Darlington Memorial Hospital will be hosting a free garden fete to mark this special occasion.

Stuart Wray, head of facilities, CDD Services, explains, "Almost everyone benefits from the NHS at some point in their lives and this is a great opportunity to celebrate this milestone with the local community.   There are a lot of people who have worked at the hospital for many years and who are devoted to patient care in whatever role they have.  It's heart-warming that people are really behind the NHS.  Members of the public, patients who are well enough, and their visitors, will all be very welcome to come and to the fete and share a tea or coffee with us.  There will also be a bake sale, ice-cream, tombola, competitions and local entertainers. We've even built a coconut shy!  The fete will take place between 2.00-4.00pm in our hospital garden, which is in front of A&E.

"Money raised on the day will be donated to our MRI Appeal that is helping fund two new state of the art scanners recently installed at both Bishop Auckland and Darlington Memorial Hospitals.

"Our patients are at the centre of everything we do so our catering team has developed a special 70^th birthday menu for all our inpatients, across all our sites, to enjoy on 5^th July.   A three-course lunch will be followed by afternoon tea and cakes and an early evening buffet." 

Charity Manager, Pat Chambers, added, "We're very grateful to our colleagues for organising this event. Our two new MRI scanners are already bringing huge benefits to patients.  Modern scanners play an important part in helping our consultants diagnose and determine treatment plans for what can be life threatening or life limiting conditions, including many types of cancer and heart disease.  It's fantastic that this celebration is also helping to raise money for such a worthwhile cause."

 Ends

Published 3rd July 2018