Speakers Evening

On Thursday 17th September, viewers of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry's Zoom meeting enjoyed a talk by long-standing club member Robbie Brechin. Entitled The Hill of Goats, which is the old Celtic meaning of Dechmont  in West Lothian,  the talk covered the history and development of Bangour Hospital. Robbie, who lived in the nearby farm at Hitly, explained that the hospital, which opened in 1906, was modelled on the hospital at Alt-Schkeudlitz near Leipzig which pioneered the village system of patient care. Designed by Hippolyte Blanc, the site at Bangour also included a power station, workshops, stores, a bakery, kitchen and laundry. It had a mainly female staff and was connected to the main Edinburgh to Glasgow railway. Cheap day return tickets helped families visit their relatives who largely came from Edinburgh. A reservoir stocked with fish and a thriving kitchen garden ensured a healthy diet for the patients and the hospital's farm raised prize-winning pigs and cattle. The reservoir still exists as the Bangour Trout Fishery. When the hospital was requisitioned by the War Office in 1914, it had a capacity of 600 patients. By 1916 it was caring for 2,000 casualties. The American Army supplied an X-ray machine, one of the first of its kind. The hospital pioneered restorative surgery while the workshop made peg legs. When Bangour reverted to a civilian psychiatric hospital in 1921 a Romanesque church was built as a memorial to its war service. When World War Two began, the patients were evacuated to Hartwoodhill Hospital and additional prefabricated huts were build to house the anticipated casualties. The Bangour facility became noted for treating burns and developing plastic surgery. In 1948 the NHS was formed and the hospital became Bangour General Hospital, serving the local community. It continued its specialisation in treating burns. A maternity unit was also opened, and by the time the hospital closed in 1989, 58,000 babies had been born there. Most facilities were transferred to the new St John's Hospital in Livingston.  More recently, the deserted hospital site was used in several horror films. In Dechmont village there is a metal monument showing the wounded arriving at Bangour by train.

Robbie's splendid talk prompted many questions from Rotarians, and Zoom viewers shared their memories of being treated at Bangour General Hospital. Kate Gibb introduced the speaker and Allan Smith proposed the vote of thanks.