Nurse's statue to be unveiled in Oswestry orthopaedic hospital celebrations

A morning of events will be held tomorrow at Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital to celebrate 50 years of the Oswestry League of Nurses.

This will include the unveiling of a statue of nurse Mary Powell OBE, who died in 2011, aged 98.

Oswestry League of Nurses was formed to bring together nurses trained at the hospital.

Its original membership was around 100 former students, with the first annual reunion held on 26 June 1964. Membership was subsequently extended to include nurses working at the hospital who had trained elsewhere.

A service of celebration will be held at 10am in the hospital's main conference facilities where hymns and prayers will take place. This will be followed by the unveiling of the specially commissioned Mary Powell statue.

The League of Nurses annual general meeting will be held at 11am.

A "Memories of the Hospital" walk will take place at 11.45pm.

Hospital bosses say all are welcome to join in the morning's celebration events.

Carolyn Evans, specialist nurse at the Gobowen-based hospital, said: "It is such an important event that celebrates and remembers nurses who have worked at the hospital or other people who have a special affinity with the hospital.

"The event is also taking place the day after hospital's nurses' day celebration which makes it even more special and commemorative."

Internationally recognised as a pioneer in orthopaedic nursing, Mary Powell was born in Pulverbatch near Shrewsbury and always wanted to be a nurse.

She first worked at Gobowen in 1936 as a staff nurse, training under Dame Agnes Hunt and later came back to work as Matron. Her book, Orthopaedic Nursing, became the standard textbook for orthopaedic nurses and ran over nine editions over 35 years.

Her work with the World Health Organisation took her to Burma, India, Australia and Hong Kong.