The Orkney Image Library
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Kevin Wooldrage asks:
'Is this the opening of the Balfour Hospital?'
It certainly looks like it, but I seem to recall that it was the Garden Memorial Hospital at that time, and the original building is still the Garden Memorial Wing. I'm not sure what the date is either. It is certainly fascinating to see Kirkwall stop at the houses at the foot of the Clay Loan, with Buttquoy House looming in front of well spaced Dundas Crescent houses.
Picture added on 27 July 2004
Garden Memorial Hospital opened 1927. I have a book "The Book of the Balfour Hospital Bazaar" with the preface dated 1923. The book was to help raise funds for the new hospital.
Added by Marion McLeod on 27 July 2004
My Dad, Ernie Wishart, says he was aged about 7 or 8 at this event along with quite a few of his pals but they were really more interested in exploring the large borehole on the opposite side of the main road [now New Scapa Road] where the quarry was situated.
Added by marion mcleod on 31 October 2004
Yes, the "Balfour Hospital" opened in 1927. The money was bequeathed by my great-grandmother in memory of her husband Robert Garden who died in 1912. In March 1914 the Garden family announced their desire to gift a new hospital but the First War intervened and eventually on April 6, 1927 the hospital block was officially opened. It was to be called the Garden Memorial Building but as time passed continued to be known as Balfour Hospital. Presumably Balfour was the name of the original hospital.
Added by Mary Garden on 16 March 2006
Several entries in The Book of the Balfour Hospital Bazaar (1923) refer to the fine work done by the Hospital during the Great War, and an included history dates the Balfour name from 1853 (the hospital apparently having opened in 1845).
Added by Russell James on 02 January 2014
I’m looking for pictures of the old Balfour hospital.
My Mum lived there as a child when the the new hospital was opened, they had rented out the old one as a house.
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My Mum lived there as a child when the the new hospital was opened, they had rented out the old one as a house.
Added by Laura on 19 February 2018
Kirkwall
