THE
HOLE IN THE ROOF

ARCHIVE
for July 2002
UPDATE:
Wednesday 17th July 2002
-
Well,
well. Hasn't it been a busy couple of weeks? And it's time for
an update-mungous and hospital-tastic update once again. And
before I forget to mention it - please don't freak out or get
upset in case you've noticed that The Shrine isn't being
updated practically every day like it was in the beginning.
We're still bringing the latest development news to you as soon
as we hear it, but now that the core of the site (with the exception
of Ray's next huge batch of images) is online, we really don't
have the pressing need to be putting new stuff up more than
once every week or two. It seems a better idea to let a few
things build up so that each new update is more meaningful -
although there's always going to be little things happening
constantly that you probably won't even notice. So the point
is - don't stress if nothing new has appeared for a week or
two, because we're always hard at work behind the scenes making
it happen - and it'll pop up sooner or later. And it might be
groovy stuff like this:
- At long last -
The Flincher is alone no more. In our exclusive chat with "Mrs
Y" - a former CRCMH Security
Guard, not one, but two (and even potentially three) very
eerie happenings have been revealed. We've also added an artist's impression
of one of them. But I don't want to spoil it all for you. All I will
say is that there's some very interesting things said in this, perhaps
the most fascinating article to appear here since the Mr X Interview
(though it isn't quite so lengthy). Check it out for yourself -
and it can also be accessed via the Haunted and Tales sections.
- A sketched
self-portrait by the CRCMH's most famous staff member - Prof. Eric
Bywaters - has been added to the Memorabilia section.
- Also in Memorabilia,
is perhaps the finest piece of nostalgia - rivalled only by the above
sketch - to appear on this website to date. Courtesy of the ever wonderful
Jeanne Hopkins, we are proud to present a very funky CRCMH
nurses badge for your perusal. Only just a "tad" nicer
than Miss McNgyuen's effort in our last update methinks...
- Thanks to former
nurse Eileen Knibbs for providing three rather fantastic B&W photos
depicting hospital life during her time there (1947-1951). I've actually
managed to turn that into four photos by taking a long-desired close-up
of the old CRCMH crest from one of them. Which has of course long since
disappeared - which is almost fortunate or else there'd be no Hole
in the Roof.
Anyway, aside from the external "hospital in summer" shot,
there's a picture of cadet nurses and another of Christmas in the Children's
Unit. Check them out on the all new Historic
Photographs page. Cue explanation...
- Yes, the Miscellaneous
Photos page is no more. It occured to us that, rather than being
anomolous, every image on it was in all actuality depicting a specific
period in the life of the hospital. And with this current bunch of rather
oxymoronic new old photos being added (and what looks like a treasure
trove more to come if I get in the mail what I've been told I'm getting
in the mail), it seemed more appropriate to change its name to Historic
Photographs rather than keep Miscellaneous and have create
a new page for old pictures in addition. If you get the drift. And related
to it all, the pictures that were so recently added to the History
page have now been replaced with a link to our new Historic Photographs
page. Now even I'm confused...
- And the History
page itself has seen a few more things added. Let me try and remember
it all. Ah, that's right. You'll have to excuse me because a few of
them are silly (here I am, tarnishing history with humour that nobody
understands...again). There's a bit of info on the CRCMH wartime organist;
An acknowledgement of the term "CRX"; An author that nobody
has ever heard of; The names of a few important medical specialists;
The date of a CRCMH exhibition held in 2000 by the Maidenhead Heritage
Centre (damn, missed that one). I think that's about it - but you never
know.
- Jeanne has also
pointed out that the standing lady without the hat in the Royal
Visit photograph is in fact Nancy Astor - who it turns out was a
Christian Scientist (which, given all she did for the hospital, strikes
me as being rather strange). And if that isn't enough, so was Joyce
Grenfell - who was not only Lady Astor's niece - but (allegedly) in
awe of her tiny Aunt. We didn't know any of these things previously
here at The Shrine (a bit slow, us), but at least it explains
why Joyce Grenfell was a hospital regular. But that's just about all
it does explain...
- Realistic translations
of Bersorungslager/Versorungslager added to the Virtual
Tour (part 10) and the Wire
Jesus Collection photo page.
- Webmaster Owen
(aka Mr Lucas Bones of Pwürg) and the most lovely Zoobie are preparing
for the grand hatching ceremony of their debut sproglet any day now.
And as long as it doesn't have black wings and red eyes they'll be fine.
Though thankfully, they're not going to try and use the CRCMH maternity
department for the delivery. I hope (but it would have crossed his mind,
believe me). My thoughts are with them both anyway, and I trust that
I can convey a similar message on behalf of yourselves - seeing as Owen's
contribution to this site has been priceless thus far. But we'll allow
him a little rest now if he wants one, what say you?
- There's probably
other things but my brain isn't in a state to remember them. More, indeed
much more, will be on its way soon though - you can count on that.
- And then finally
I'll leave you with this:

Even
our E-Mail account isn't immune to lovely Spam
or so it seems. But these are probably the best two we've had
for a while (if you discount the company that wanted to post
us fresh beef from America). With the first one - if they were
offering, I'd take it - but not without checking their interest
rates first. And the second one? Well, I know that the hospital
can be exciting, but...
UPDATE:
Friday 5th July 2002
- The Shrine scored
its 2000th genuine hit yesterday - so thank you all for stopping by
and for keeping tabs on the site. The fun will continue...
- Eleven year-old
Elspeth McNgyuen of Lincolnshire has sent us this lovely badge for the
ongoing "Save Our Hospital" campaign, which we thought was
simply a smashing gesture. She told us that her school teacher had seen
the website and got the whole class making these things. We tracked
him down - a Mr K.Willhelm - and he explained the project: "Well,
what they really wanted to do was draw pictures of Ronaldo McDonald,
complete with a semi-circle of red curly hair - kicking burgers into
a net - which I didn't think was particularly imaginative. So, I gave
them a generic ecological project instead, and I thought that'll
teach them. But it all seems to have backfired, because now
they're all asking to go to the disused asbestos factory down the road
for our end of year excursion. And to top it all off, one of
the kids placed a scale model he'd made of the factory in question on
my desk this morning - constructed from actual asbestos scavenged from
the factory. Our lawyers have been duly notified." So, whilst
we're off to St.Morag's School with a large suitcase full of used banknotes,
you can enjoy yourself (well, within reason - it's not going to be the
greatest day of your life or anything) by clicking on the badge below
and getting a proper-sized version to print out and wear with pride.
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