THE first baby cared for at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary cut a cake to mark the NHS 60th birthday.
Helen Finn was actually born at the old Royal Infirmary in Portland Street in Huddersfield town centre – which is now home to Huddersfield Technical College.
The date was September 13, 1966, and Helen was the first baby transferred up to the new hospital in Lindley when it first opened, along with her mum Marjorie Lockwood.
Her arrival hit the headlines again with the local media, when Helen herself gave birth to her own daughter Jacqueline at the Infirmary on October 25, 1988 weighing in at exactly the same weight as she was.
Jacqueline, from Marsh, works for Patient Services at St Luke's House, Crosland Moor.
Helen, also from Marsh, is now training administrator at the hospital – a post she applied for partly as a way of giving something back to the NHS for the care her mum received over many years.
She said: “My mum needed the NHS for large part of her life. She was poorly on and off from being a teenager which required the nursing care given in hospital.
“She had open heart surgery and needed regular blood tests. She knew many of the nurses, doctors and consultants. She sadly died in 2000 but the NHS looked after her so well, the care she received from HRI was second to none. It couldn’t have been better.”
