Former staff at Storthes Hall Hospital are retracing their steps at a reunion in Huddersfield tonight.
Thousands of nurses, doctors and office staff worked at the former psychiatric hospital from 1904 until 1991.
The reunion event has been organised by four former nursing staff after a Facebook group Memories of Storthes Hall was set up eight months ago and attracted 400 members.
Dena Adamson, who has helped organise the event, said: “Storthes Hall was obviously a huge employer and when I was there in the 1980s there was a great sense of camaraderie with the staff. I worked on a number of wards and there was a huge network of support and a real team ethos.
“The patients came from a wide area and there were elderly people and children. I believe at one time it was one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in Europe.”
Paul Hartley, who worked at the hospital as a charge nurse in the 1960s, recalls the hospital was like a small town and was virtually self-sufficient.
He said: “The hospital had its own farm and had pigs and sheep and grew crops. It was, of course, out in the ‘sticks’ in those days so it was quite hard to find.
“There was a strong ethos of teamwork and we held our own in the works sporting leagues.”
The reunion will be held at Storthes Hall student union ‘The Venue’ in Kirkburton from 5pm onwards.
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