The Butterfield Centre

THE BUTTERFIELD CENTRE celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, an auspicious occasion for a familiar building that has been part of community life for more than a century.

The imposing red brick and blue slate house on the corner of North Road and Meadowgate was built as a private home in Victorian times and later converted for use as a cottage hospital responsible for the medical needs of thousands over the coming years.

The story began with the Bourne Nursing Association which was established in the late 19th century through the encouragement of Alderman William Wherry (1841-1915). He proposed that such an organisation should be formed with voluntary subscriptions and public grants as a permanent memorial to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 but the suggestion got a mixed reception and there was some opposition.

Alderman Wherry pursued the idea and his enthusiasm won the day with the association being formed two years later in 1899 when he was appointed its president. Within ten years, nurses were making almost 2,000 visits a year to treat patients in their own homes, in the town as well as Dyke and Cawthorpe villages, and it was at this time in 1909, that the association was offered a property.

The house, called Brooklands, had been the home of Mr Joseph Butterfield who had moved from Yorkshire some years before and when he died, it was bequeathed in his will to the town on the condition that it should be devoted to the relief of suffering. Miss Eliza Butterfield, one of his two daughters, was appointed a trustee to ensure that his wishes were carried out.

Under the guidance of Alderman Wherry, also a trustee of Mr Butterfield's will, it was decided that the house should be used as a cottage hospital and the Countess of Ancaster performed the official opening ceremony on 28th June 1910. The first patient was already being treated, William Thornton, aged five, who had fallen from a bridge in Eastgate breaking his thigh which was set on the kitchen table before being admitted to recover which he did sufficiently to present a bouquet to the countess. William incidentally, lived to be 63 and died in July 1969.

The hospital became a valued medical amenity for the town and district and in 1914, a total of 71 patients were treated while staff nurses paid over 2,000 visits to various cases of sickness. Householders and their dependents in Bourne were admitted to the hospital free of charge provided their gross income did not exceed 25 shillings a week while people living outside the town had to pay one guinea a year. Regular fund raising also boosted hospital finances with an annual subscription from the Earl of Ancaster and other donations, some as small as one penny.

The building was greatly enlarged in 1920 as a memorial to those who died in the Great War and a new wing was opened on Wednesday 11th May 1921 by Lady Florence Willoughby, accompanied by her husband, Colonel Claud Willoughby, Member of Parliament for the constituency. The improvements included two new wards, one with four beds for women on the ground floor and a similar room upstairs was converted into a men's ward. Each had a small adjoining room for nurses in attendance, a lavatory and bath, while a large room downstairs was adapted for use by private patients. There was also a flat for the matron and additional staff accommodation whereas before, some nurses had lived outside in a hostel.

By 1965, the hospital was maintaining 12 beds in three wards, one male, one female and one private with five full time nursing staff and four part time with a further four employed on night time duty and there were also four kitchen staff and a porter. Minor surgery was performed in the operating theatre and the hospital also had a busy casualty department while weekly clinics were held by visiting consultants.

That year, a patient, Miss Sarah Saunders, celebrated her 100th birthday on February 13th and received a telegram of congratulations from the Queen together with a visit from council leaders who presented her with a bouquet. She was also sprightly enough to receive a television reporter and camera crew and the film of her interview appeared that evening on Anglia TV.

The Butterfield continued to provide a valuable medical service for the town and public opinion helped it survive several attempts at closure, particularly in October 1982 when nurses and members of the public turned out in force to protest and 6,000 people signed a petition demanding that it remain open. But financial restraints and a streamlining of National Health Service resources eventually sounded the death knell and it closed in 1983. Age Concern (now Age UK) in Bourne, supported by local councillors, persuaded Lincolnshire County Council to buy the building from the Peterborough Area Health Authority for £26,000 for use as a day centre by old people and this has been its role since 1985.

The Butterfield Centre now provides care, recreation and leisure for senior citizens. There is a wide range of services for the elderly on offer, including mobile meals delivered to the home, domestic help, day trips and shopping, while the social activities provide a valuable meeting point for people who might otherwise be in need of company, a place where they can meet and talk, knowing that they will be picked up and returned home in the centre’s minibus.

There have been many alarms about its future in recent years but the centre is now a charitable company with a stable financial base supported by grants from local authorities, mainly Lincolnshire County Council, while a substantial bequest from a local resident has helped start a charity deposit fund and to upgrade the transport and other facilities.

The Butterfield celebrated its 25th anniversary with a cheese and wine party on Friday 19th November 2010 when the guests of honour were our M P, Nick Boles, and the centre’s president, Lady Jane Willoughby, great granddaughter of the Countess of Ancaster who performed the official opening of the original hospital 100 years ago.