A FUNDRAISING scheme for Budleigh Salterton Hospital that can be traced back 120 years is being reintroduced.

A FUNDRAISING scheme for Budleigh Salterton Hospital that can be traced back 120 years is being reintroduced.

The League of Friends of Budleigh Salterton Hospital is preparing for its annual garden party on August 1 at 2.30pm.

And this year they plan to reintroduce 'Pound Week', which has its origins when the hospital admitted its first patients back in 1889.

Then, Mrs Ann Brushfield, the wife of the very first chairman of Budleigh Salterton Hospital, Dr T N Brushfield, was assigned to form a Ladies' Committee to raise funds.

The money raised paid for bed linen, nurses' uniforms, and curtains to surround each bed.

She then introduced 'Pound Day', when the community brought articles to the hospital weighing a pound or roughly costing a pound, for sale at the annual garden party.

Eventually a Pound Week was introduced and in 1924 for example, 1,073lbs of groceries and vegetables were brought and sold to aid the hospital.

Dr David Evans, chairman Budleigh Salterton Hospital League of Friends, said: "I would, like to ask the community of Budleigh Salterton and surrounding villages to support the League of Friends in the resurrection of Pound Week.

"This can be done by bringing gifts worth a pound or more, or weighing a pound, to Budleigh Salterton Hospital in the week starting Monday July 27.

"I feel this scheme will add to the fun of the Garden Party, as well as providing very welcome benefit to the hospital."

If the hospital is difficult to reach, an alternative site for gifts is Age Concern, Station Road, Budleigh Salterton.

Dr Evans said that the last two months have seen the completion of the two single bedded wards at a cost of �52,016.

He added: "We are determined to continue with...future projects.

"We cannot do this without the support and generosity of the local community...and wish to encourage as many people as possible to attend the annual garden party.

"It is absolutely essential in the provision of a high standard of medical care, at a local level, for the ill, elderly and disabled in our community.