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Are the old Hospital buildings still there?


Tracey Bennett

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Just wondered really. At the back of the General was the old workhouse building - see here which is as I remember it http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Warrington/ (scroll to about halfway down)

 

I used to do hospital radio there in the late 80's and remembered we scared ourselves silly in there at night! As I haven't lived in Warrington for about 13 years I wondered if the old buildings are still there or have they been flattened in the name of progress?

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I seem to remember my Mum mentioning Rheumatic Fever but as I was very young when she related these tales I am not 100% sure

I guess before antibiotics it was a killer.

 

220px-Rheumatic_heart_disease_world_map_
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Rheumatic fever is common worldwide and responsible for many cases of damaged heart valves. As of 2010 globally it resulted in 345,000 deaths, down from 463,000 in 1990.[25]

In Western countries, it became fairly rare since the 1960s, probably due to widespread use of antibiotics to treat streptococcus infections. While it has been far less common in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been a few outbreaks since the 1980s. Although the disease seldom occurs, it is serious and has a case-fatality rate of 2–5%.[26]

Rheumatic fever primarily affects children between ages 5 and 17 years and occurs approximately 20 days after strep throat. In up to a third of cases, the underlying strep infection may not have caused any symptoms.

The rate of development of rheumatic fever in individuals with untreated strep infection is estimated to be 3%. The incidence of recurrence with a subsequent untreated infection is substantially greater (about 50%).[27] The rate of development is far lower in individuals who have received antibiotic treatment. Persons who have suffered a case of rheumatic fever have a tendency to develop flare-ups with repeated strep infections.

The recurrence of rheumatic fever is relatively common in the absence of maintenance of low dose antibiotics, especially during the first three to five years after the first episode. Heart complications may be long-term and severe, particularly if valves are involved.

Survivors of rheumatic fever often have to take penicillin to prevent streptococcal infection which could possibly lead to another case of rheumatic fever that could prove fatal.

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I didn't know there had been a workhouse where the Hospital is now Tracey. 

 

The link you gave in for first post show some photo's of some of the old workhouse buildings that remained and I remember seeing them many times but I never knew their history and just presumed they were all part of the hospital and always had been.

 

Oddly I was glancing through a book earlier and noticed a mention of the workhouse and Guardian Street.  It said Guardian Street was actually named after the 'guardians' and decisions makers of the workhouse which once stood there... I always though it was named after the other local newspaper.    :oops:

 

I just googled the isolation hospital and there is a story on the WG from a lady who spent 5 weeks there when she was a young child suffering from Scarlet Fever. 

 

She recalls  a maroon ambulance picking her up, as normal ambulances weren't allowed to carry 'infectious' people, and how she wasn't allowed any visitors at all, even her mother, and that she couldn't take anything with her that she wanted to take home again as everything would be incinerated when it was time for her to leave.

 

The isolation hospital sounded like a scary place to be especially for kids.

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Thanks both - really interesting. As I said earlier I did Hospital Radio at the general in about 1988/89. There was a handful of us all in our teens who used to do Friday nights. We had to go around the wards collecting requests, find the records and hand them over to the dj. Once that was done we'd have a break then go back at the end of the show to put the records away. During our break we'd go down to an area with vending machines to get drinks and snacks and that was the bit in the old workhouse buildings. I don't think there were many patients in that area at the time though I have a feeling the childrens' ward (we didn't go there) may have been in the old building. When we were there in the evenings it was deserted, dark, quiet and creepy as anything, goodness knows what the poor kids made of it all. 

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I bet being part of the hospital radio station was quite good fun Tracey (well apart from the creepy dark quiet evenings you mention... that's the spooked whimp in me coming out again :oops: )   

 

We were in the hospital earlier this week (thanks son !!)  and the radio station was playing as we walked from the main entrance through the corridors so it's still going strong and still run by volunteers apparently.  They had some  really good music on too. 

 

Shame I can't tune in from here.. or can I... might look   :)

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Tracey.... went for some fuel this evening and popped round the back of the hospital to take some photos.... they didn't come out too well so I will try when it is a bit lighter!!

 

I did take these which shows all that is now left of the original buildings

 

 

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Tracey... the building in Baz's pics is on your original post link to the workhouse website.  Well it looks like the same one to me but then after my earlier post.... :lol: .

 

1st coloured pic on your link (the area of building behind the tree and 2nd colour pic.  The titles say 'Warrington main block from the south-east, 2001'  and  'Warrington main block from the south-west, 2001'.

 

It seem odd that they would have knocked the whole of the main building down apart from the centre bit though. 

 

What do you think, is it the same bit ?

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I'm confused again now.  Not your fault Baz I've just got my thick head on.

 

Is the building in your pic part of the Kendrick Wing ?... and was the Kendrick Wing building the old workhouse / infirmary?

 

I just can't get my bearings off the maps and images and can't google street walk it as they don't seem to have driven around there.

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