Happy Birthday NHS

The National Health Service was formed 75 years ago on 5 July 1948 and Gloucestershire Archives has been involved in local celebrations of this milestone birthday.  Over the past few months we’ve been working with NHS staff to produce an exhibition about the development of the health service in Gloucestershire.  As part of this process we have acquired some fantastic new photographs and promotional films for our collections, and some keen advocates for our service.  

'Mash up' of old photographs of Cheltenham General Hospital, now added to our collections as NHS acc no 16402

Cheltenham School of Nursing, 1978, now added to our collections as NHS acc no 16402

The exhibition was formally opened at a special evensong service at Gloucester Cathedral and will be on display in the cloisters until September, alongside specially commissioned artwork. 

We’ve also put a version of the exhibition 'In sickness and in health' online and have created a dedicated NHS75 page which signposts to other relevant resources.  Particular thanks are due to volunteers Val and Gail whose research underpins the exhibition and has produced several fact sheets, now available online. 

You can see the online exhibition here NHS75 - Gloucestershire Archives

You can see the NHS dedicated page here The NHS will be 75 on 5th July - Gloucestershire Archives