Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Group’s first talk of 2023 will be given by Becky Proctor, the Heritage Officer at Royal Papworth Hospital.

 In 2019 Royal Papworth Hospital moved to a new state-of-the-art building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, but just over a century before this the first patients were treated in a group of wooden huts in a cottage garden. This talk explores a century of care for patients, from the establishment of the pioneering Cambridgeshire Tuberculosis Colony, its subsequent growth as Papworth Village Settlement, and later development as an NHS hospital after 1948. Today Royal Papworth is one of the UK’s largest cardio-thoracic hospitals.

 Becky was born and brought up in Cambridge.  She spent more than 16 happy years at the Folk Museum as Assistant Curator. She has worked at Royal Papworth Hospital as Heritage Officer since 2009, in combination with some varied roles with other organisations delivering community and oral history projects. Her work has ranged from posing mannequins at Burwell Museum to training retired firefighters in cataloguing skills at Kent Fire Museum. In 2020 she edited the book 'Brush with the Past' by Allan Brigham, and she continues to write and deliver history talks to local groups. 

 The talk will take place in the Pye Building at Cambridge Museum of Technology.  Entrance on the night is via the Museum’s Cheddars Lane gate.

 Tickets for the talk are available on the door for £3 a head. 

 Cambridge Industrial Archaeology group organises a programme of talks on industrial heritage at Cambridge Museum of Technology.  Talks usually take place at 7.30pm on the second Monday of each month.  For further information about Cambridge Industrial Archaeology Group contact Robin Chandler    robin.chandler@btinternet.com

Becky Proctor is the Heritage Officer at Royal Papworth Hospital. For more information see Our history :: Royal Papworth Hospital

Cambridge Museum of Technology is the home of Cambridge’s industrial heritage. For further information on the Museum contact Nick Plaister nick.plaister@museumoftechnology.com