Liverpool Medical Institution, 114 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5SR (on corner of Hope Street)
Visit 208 (Liverpool) Fd Hosp this weekend at the Liverpool Medical Institution’s (LMI) First World War centenary event. Taking place all day today and Saturday 4 October, the exhibition, which is free to attend, includes a recreation of a 1914 trench system and Casualty Clearing station and a 2014 Field Dressing Station. Personnel from the unit are on hand to give demonstrations and answer questions. There is also a series of lectures accompanying the exhibition.
WO1 (RSM) Bob Dixon told us about how the exhibition had come together and 208 (Liverpool) Fd Hosp’s proud history with Liverpool:
WO1 (RSM) Bob Dixon
“Adrian Myer, the librarian for the Liverpool Medical Institute (LMI) decided to do a First World War project. We had a chance meeting last year and we came up with a daring proposition: to build a trench at LMI and give a series of presentations. It’s not something that just happened – it’s been years in the making. We’ve managed to get some lottery funding, and the result is what you can see today. We’ve built a trench, which has been out to several locations in Liverpool to much acclaim; we’ve got a presenter talking about the First World War, specifically the 1914 aspects of how we went to war, plus our ‘trauma time tunnel’ through which you step out of 1914 and into 2014 to see what we’re doing now, what we’re delivering as our first line of care for our soldiers in Afghanistan. We’re comparing and contrasting, then and now, and that’s what it’s all about over the next few years.
The exhibition at the Liverpool Medical Institution
“It’s early in the morning and we’ve already got 50 students having a look round. It’s getting the message out there about what we do, and I’m really happy to be working with the LMI. This cements what we’re doing from the Reserve perspective in the city of Liverpool. 208 (Liverpool) Fd Hosp has a proud history with the city, and with Liverpool’s medical students. Before the First World War there was a Second West Lancashire Field Ambulance unit which was broken down into three sections. One of those sections was purely comprised of Liverpool medical students. Some of the great medical officers of our Corps have been members of the LMI – Noel Chavasse, the famous double VC winner, and Victor Horsley, a surgeon who sadly lost his life during the First World War. It’s a distinguished place.
“We’ve had a great response from visitors, including Dame Lorna Muirhead, Lord-Lieutenant of Liverpool, who was fully immersed in what we’re doing and had lots of questions. The exhibition has also righted a few wrongs about people’s misconceptions of the First World War: the British Army was actually quite technologically advanced at that time and overcoming problems. People leaving the exhibition have a better understanding of what was happening then as well as what we’re doing now.”
This is 208 (Liverpool) Fd Hosp’s last public event before they travel to California for a training exercise.
