Sydenham's Children's Hospital

[klj88]

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone have or know where i can get a picture of the Children's Hospital at Sydenham please

My address is KristalJackson_@hotmail.com

Thanks Kristal Jackson

[Steve Grindlay]

Here's a picture of the Children's Hospital. I've uploaded a couple more pictures here:

[klj88]

hi THANK YOU VERY MUCH

the best picture

[leenewham]

Wow, what an impressive building. Shame it was never converted into apartments. I presume it no longer exists.

Please tell me this wasn't knocked down to make way for the retirement home and strange blocks of flats down the bottom of Sydenham road!

[bensonby]

it was at the junction of champion road and sydenham road. and, yes, it was knocked down in about 1990...

[leenewham]

Are there any images of it from the late 1989's, anyone know anything more about it?

[regoneil]

Steve,
Have you a date when the oicture with the nurses was taken? as I had a relative who was on the nursing staff for several years in the thirties.
Regoneil

[Steve Grindlay]

With regard to the date, Reg, your guess is as good as mine - perhaps 1920s?

Three of the pictures show Champion House (built about 1860) from the front, facing Sydenham Road. The house was used as the Children's Hospital from 1885. The large extension (which dominates the 1970s picture above) was added to the front elevation of Champion House in 1924.

At the extreme left of the 1970s picture you can see the balconies that obscured the bow window on the left, western, side of the house. These balconies are clearly seen in two of the pictures of Champion House.

And your dating of the demolition was very close, Bensonby; records show it was demolished in Spring 1991.

[leenewham]

Any idea why it was knocked down?

[Steve Grindlay]

No idea, Lee, probably the usual reasons - greed, ignorance, carelessness...

Demolition followed closure suspiciously quickly.

[budweiser]

Cheers for the photo Steve, I spent a few times in there in the late 60`s getting stitched up for one thing or another.
It was opposite Home Park wasn`t it? Another place i spent many hours in playing in the adventure playground at the top end on the rope slide and making fires in the ground which we put potatoes into and ate about 25 mins later.

[Eagle]

Yes thanks for lovelt photo I recall it well.
I believe it is where the Kwik Fit and Old persons home now is.
I still visit one of the nurses who worked there from 1948 until it closed. She has some amazing stories

[klj88]

Hi All,

The site is now 2 blocks of flats called Castle Court one with 40 flats and the second 8.

Thanks Again KLJ88

[stabitha4]

Was this hospital also known as South Eastern Hospital for sick children?

[Steve Grindlay]

It was. The hospital had various official names but between about 1920 until the early 1950s it was called the South Eastern Hospital for Children.

[stabitha4]

Thank you so much, Steve.
My dad and his sister was in this Hospital for over a year and their parents were told they would not live past the age of 5 years.
How wrong they were because my dad lived to be 83 and his sister is still alive today .She will be 90 this year.
She was in the hospital when Queen Mary visited and she handed her a purse.

[rolyevans]

Was this hospital also known as South Eastern Hospital for sick children?

Yes. in the late 40's and early 50's I lived opposite the hospital. I was at 9 Champion Road. I had to go into the hospital to have an operation to correct a cast in my eye. It's still there.

[Karen Johl]

I worked at Children's Hospital Sydenham for one year in 1968-69. It was a wonderful experience. When I found out in 1995 that the hospital had been demolished I felt sick to my stomach. Budweiser- I may have been working there when you were being stiched up. Eagle- what is the name of the nurse you still visit? I may have known her. It was an emotional experience just now to see the picture of the hospital on the web site. I have so many memories including the day I arrived there from Seattle, Washington to begin working there. There were three of us- one from New Jersey who was already there and two of us from Seattle. We lived in the nurses' dorm right next to the hospital. I worked in the operating theatre and Sister Alleway was our charge nurse. We had so much fun there and also got to travel a lot in the British Isles and on the continent. Mr. Dowdall was the anesthesia aid and Mrs. Ross was one of the nurses. Sister Gummer worked in the emergency room but I know that she has passed away. It anyone knows any of these people or anything about the hospital from that time I would love to hear from you. It is a nostalgic time with all of the publicity about England and the royal wedding. I guess I need to make a trip there but it would be sad to not be able to see our hospital. I really loved it there and I'm glad I found this forum.

[skitchen]

I worked at the hospital in the summer of 1959 for 4 weeks. It was a program arranged by my college, which had sent other student nurses there in the past for a summer period. I and my classmate were freshman student nurses and knew next to nothing! It was a fabulous experience.
I don't remember any names anymore,execpt Nurse West, who was very kind to us. The biggest curiousity was our white American nursing uniforms, as all the other nurses wore different colors according to their responsibilities at the hospital, We lived in the nurse's home with the other English students who were in training. I remember tea times in the dining room and the green plum pie which had pits in it. We were basically volunteers who got room and board in exchange for the experience. My classmate and I were invited to lunch at a private club on Whitehall with a college trustee and Dr. Edith Summerguild, who I believe was a co-author of the health bill.
I have 13 colored pictures of the hopital, staff and patients. I'm new at this and am not sure how to post them, but will share if anyone is interested.

[Highfield]

I stayed in this hospital sometime around 1972 or 1973. I was 4 or 5 years old when I contracted conjunctivitis and was therefore quarantined in a room for about a week. Even though my parents and sister came to see me every day and that I lived only a stone's throw away at 19, Maill Rd, I felt miles away as if in another world.

In the picture of the hospital, just under the "Children's" part of the hospital sign, was the floor I was quarantined on, in a room towards the back of those windows.

One other thing I remember distinctly was that the nurses were so gentle and caring - fully trained for nursing care. I was too young to really thank them at the time so now I would like to say thank you to all those wonderful nurses for caring and making all better.