MEMORABILIA
Since
its closure, the CRCMH has become Maidenhead's equivalent of the Marie
Celeste. Although
many major fittings / equipment etc disappeared fairly rapidly, a
vast amount of paraphernalia still sits around, waiting patiently
for the staff to come back and get on with business. The whole place
is literally strewn with the everyday minutia of a working hospital.
Although much of this might be considered "mostly harmless"
such as the wheelchairs, toys, or magazines and the like - other items,
such as the infamous "dead files" or mysterious vials of
unknown substances - pose some serious questions. Namely - Why on
earth were they not destroyed or transferred elsewhere as a top priority
upon the closure of the hospital? Dangerous drugs. Confidential patients
records and X-Rays. All of these and more were simply left behind.
Perhaps there are lessons to be learned here.
Anyway,
forays into the world of the CRCMH would often result in the capture
of some artefact or other - a souvenir of the visit. Combined with
other mementos you have sent to us, these build up an interesting
picture of the everyday forgotten things that make up a hospital.
This is our online array of CRCMH memorabilia - and just like "real"
museum or art collections, every picture tells a story...
We
currently have 17 categories here and hope to expand. Please
contact us if you have
any CRCMH memorabilia that you'd like to either scan or send in order
to immortalize it in cyberspace.
Pointless
(arte)Factoid:
We at The Shrine are proud to make use of the proper
English spelling of the word "artefact" (which webmaster
Damon wholeheartedly supports, and he should know, being an archaeologist
of sorts). We urge you not to lapse into the all too common American
spelling of "artifact" because, well... the language
is called English for a good reason. And when the Americans invent
their own language from scratch, they can do whatever they want with
it. So there.