You wouldn’t necessarily have thought hospitals were the most festive of places. But as these photos from Southend Hospital’s archive show, Christmas cheer has been alive and well on the wards for decades.

A spokesman for the hospital, in Prittlewell Chase, said: “These photos show Christmases past spanning 40 years of festive celebrations from the Forties to the Seventies.

“These back in time for Christmas images offer a unique insight into the changing world of hospitals, fashion and of the celebration of the holiday season with cutting turkey on the ward, nurses in classic-caped uniforms carolling, to lavish celebration dinners in the Fifties juxtaposed with doctors and nurses grabbing Christmas lunch in the Seventies. Note the tinsel in the hair and the ‘even Father Christmas has accidents sign’.

“The faces and the fashions may have changed, but the care of the patients remains a constant through the decades to this day, as do celebrations with Christmas trees on many wards.

“It’s perhaps fitting then that in one of the pictures a matron is flanked by angels, something nurses are often still referred to as.”

Echo:

Echo:

Echo:

  • Do you recognise anyone in these photos? We’d love to hear from you. Email katy.pearson@nqe.com