VAD HOSPITAL FAKENHAM

Wounded and sick soldiers returning to Britain from the Front were accommodated in two types of hospital. Cases requiring surgery or specialist care were sent to existing county hospitals while others in need of bed rest and convalescence were sent to one to the many Auxiliary War Hospitals set up under the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) scheme.

In Fakenham the hospital was at Goggs Hall [now Grove House] Tunn Street .

FROM THE REVEREND SHARE'S NOTES

20th September 1915 Fruit, vegetables, eggs and bread etc from yesterday’s Harvest Festival sent off to the Voluntary Aid Hospital at Hempton Mill Fakenham

1^sOct 1916 Harvest fruit and veg, a small cart load sent by Herbert Colman to VAD in Fakenham as last year, only more.

2^nd September 1917 Fruit and vegetables offered at harvest given to the Red Cross Hospital in Fakenham. They were taken down by Mr Herbert Colman. Mrs Palin [MICHAEL PALIN’S GRANDMOTHER] as representing the hospital sends her thanks to the Rector for the gift and says it is most acceptable. Also she thanks Mr Colman for bringing it.

13^th November 1917 A rummage sale at the Rectory in new room . Good attendance Result £3 given to Fakenhan VAD and the balance to parish medical fund

Two Kettlestone women volunteered with the Red Cross - Eleanor May Colman and Katherine Sumpter.

From the Fakenham and Dereham Times 1914

'At Fakenham Gogg's Hall will be the hospital and if any of the patients have a love for historic surroundings they will rapidly recover in this hospital. Gogg's Hall is an Elizabethan mansion standing in a garden in the heart of the town. It possesses a dining room wainscoted in oak and a beautiful fireplace. Mr F.S.Wigg the Secretary of the Red Cross Society in the Gallow Hundred has had charge of the work at Fakenham for some time. The stretcher bearers who have been trained under Dr Palin, are very efficient. It is the ladies' detachment who are controlling the work of preparing the hospital, and a new class for nursing instruction has recently been formed. Dr Fisher is the commandant, and the trained nurse who will have charge of the hospital is Mrs Palin. The nursing staff will consist of the ladies who have been through the classes of instruction and gained their certificates. There are about forty ladies with certificates. The hospital has been fitted with eighteen beds on the upper floor. The fine room on the ground floor will be used for the quarters and recreation rooms for the convalescents.'