"THE nursing profession offers a life of interest and adventure in the field of medicine as new discoveries are revealed, while in itself it is satisfying and worthwhile serving humanity," said an early 1960s brochure for the Darlington Memorial Hospital Training School for Nurses.

"It appeals to the intelligent as well as the practical, and to all that is best in women."

The Northern Echo: Darlington Memorial Hospital in the 1950s. Top left with the chimney is the laundry. Left is the memorial hall and the cenotaph archive. The wards make a U shape and there are a lot of wartime temporary buildings. Bottom right are some of the Victorian villas lining Woodland Road - many of them still have gardens stretching towards the hospital.Darlington Memorial Hospital in the 1950s. Top left with the chimney is the laundry. Left is the memorial hall and the cenotaph archive. The wards make a U shape and there are a lot of wartime temporary buildings. Bottom right are some of the Victorian villas lining Woodland Road - many of them still have gardens stretching towards the hospital.

The Northern Echo: Darlington Memorial Hospital in 1982 after 20 years of development. In the bottom right are the nurse accommodation blocs which replaced the training school - the pathway seems to run along Elmbank’s drive.Darlington Memorial Hospital in 1982 after 20 years of development. In the bottom right are the nurse accommodation blocs which replaced the training school - the pathway seems to run along Elmbank’s drive.

At this time, when nurses and the National Health System are uppermost in our thoughts, it feels appropriate to delve into a collection of photographs amassed by Joan Young, who trained as a nurse at the Memorial in the 1950s, and then served there until 1988.

The Northern Echo: Nurses in facemasks at the Memorial learn in the late 1950s to treat an injured boyNurses in facemasks at the Memorial learn in the late 1950s to treat an injured boy

The Northern Echo: A 1950s examination at the Memorial HospitalA 1950s examination at the Memorial Hospital

The Northern Echo: The student nurses’ dining room in 1964 - it looks as if it could have been in one of the wartime temporary hutsThe student nurses’ dining room in 1964 - it looks as if it could have been in one of the wartime temporary huts

"The Darlington Memorial Hospital was opened in 1933 as a memorial to the fallen of the 1914-18 war, designed to perpetuate their memory in the service of the living," says the brochure.

The first nursing school seems to have started after the Second World War, with the advent of the NHS, and it was housed in the memorial hall wing of the hospital behind the cenotaph.

The Northern Echo: Student nurses at the Memorial, probably in the late 1950s, in a physiology lessonStudent nurses at the Memorial, probably in the late 1950s, in a physiology lesson

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The Northern Echo: A practical lesson for the nurses in 1964A practical lesson for the nurses in 1964

At the start of the 1960s, though, there was a desire to enlarge the six wards of the Memorial so that it became "a thousand-bedded district general hospital".

This expansion gobbled up nearly all of the space on the site, and was finally complete in May 1980 when the Duchess of Kent formally reopened the hospital.

The Northern Echo: The nurses in the reading room at the nursing school in 1964The nurses in the reading room at the nursing school in 1964

The Northern Echo: Nurses relax at the nursing school off Woodland Road in 1964Nurses relax at the nursing school off Woodland Road in 1964

The Northern Echo: Helpful labels placed around the patient in 1964Helpful labels placed around the patient in 1964

The Northern Echo:

The Northern Echo:

This meant that the nursing school had to be found a new home. In 1964, it reopened in a semi-detached pair of Victorian villas off Woodland Road on the edge of the hospital site.

We think this property was called Elmbank when it was built, but by the time it became a nursing school, it was known as Acton House.

The Northern Echo: Nursing school, Acton HouseNursing school, Acton House

This, though, was only a temporary home because by the end of the decade, there was new accommodation for the school within the hospital. The Victorian villas were demolished so that nurses’ flats could be built – one block is called Acton House – although their gateposts remain. We reckon that as you walk from Woodland Road through to the hospital, you go follow the driveway of the mansion beside which the nurses on the front cover are sitting.

The Darlington nursing school didn’t survive the switch to graduate-level entry for nurses at the start of the 21st Century, and now the Memorial’s endoscopy department occupies its rooms.