From The Bath Medical Museum: Ashley, a final year history student at Bath Spa University, has created a small exhibition called ‘The Bath Blitz: How did the doctors cope?’at Bath Medical Museum (BMM), outlining some of the amazing and intriguing facts about the way in which Bath coped with war time injuries and treatments especially those three dreadful days and two nights of carnage in 1942.
BMM is based in The Hetling Pump Room which escaped avoided being bombed during World War II, although its immediate neighbour took a direct hit.
Ashley explains “The Hetling Room bears the scars of shrapnel but stood firm during the Bedeker raids. However it was witness scenes of much bloodshed and possibly served as a first aid station during the height of the tragedy. So The Room was possibly the location of much bravery, skills and determination of Bath first responders. “My exhibition aims to give a tiny insight into the horrors of war and aerial bombardment.”
The exhibition runs from the opening day of The Christmas Market (November Thursday 28th) until Saturday December 7th from 12pm to 4pm and is free.
The next BMM exhibition ‘The Bath Blitz How Did the Doctors Cope?’ describes the work of Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases (BIRD) which exists to support arthritis research, education and patient engagement to enable improvement in treatment for patients with rheumatic diseases.
Bath has always been at the forefront of bone and joint disease research, education and patient care, as part of its history as a city with thermal waters since at least Roman times, and opened one of the first national specialist hospitals in the country in 1742. BIRD was formed in 1975 by the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (known affectionately as ‘the Min’ and now part of the Royal United Hospital, Bath) and the University of Bath. Wendy Stott and a team of sixth form students from Beechen Cliff have devised an exhibition which exemplifies BIRD’s work, both in awareness raising, training, research and information sharing .
It will run from December 16th until mid January 2025. More details at bathmedicalmuseum.org