The Red Cross at Work

Crofton Rooms, St Cuthbert’s Street, Bedford

Friday 13th November 1914: A report has been received on the work of the Red Cross in Bedfordshire since the outbreak of the war. Five of the Voluntary Aid Detachments operating under the Red Cross in the county have been called up and are working as follows:

• No.2 VAD has started six dressing stations in Bedford and the surrounding area
• No.4 VAD is working at the military hospital in Kempston. The hospital has 50 beds and 134 men have so far been admitted, with an average stay of three weeks.
• Twenty members of No.6 VAD have been working with the Highland Division in Bedford since 22nd August, and since 31st August has also been working at the Field Hospital. This has 36 beds and over 100 soldiers are treated each week.
• No.18 VAD equipped a temporary hospital for troops in Leighton Buzzard on 15th August.
• Another Detachment has been working at the Masonic Hall, Biggleswade, where 27 in-patients and 531 surgery cases have been treated.

The Red Cross depot at Crofton House, Bedford, has received 1,726 garments since the start of the war. Day shirts and socks were sent to the British Territorials, and pillow cases, nightshirts, nightingales and sleeping suits have been sent to local Territorial hospitals. Any surplus has been sent to the Red Cross stores department in London.

Major Carpenter, honorary secretary of the Bedfordshire Branch has passed on a request from the Committee in London for items to replenish hospitals in France and elsewhere. Especially needed are: slippers, vests, woollen caps, woollen pants, warm mufflers, dressing gowns, thick woollen blankets, absobent cotton wool, gauze and bandages. These can be handed in at the Crofton Rooms in Bedford from where they will be sent to the Red Cross Depot in Pall Mall.

Source: Ampthill and District News 14 November 1914