Badge of honour unveiled at Shropshire hospital

The pin badge, created by Dame Agnes Hunt, was awarded to Nursing and Physiotherapy students until the late 1960s.

This week a model of the badge, awarded to all students completing a five-year combined Nursing and Physiotherapy training programme, was unveiled by Anna Turner JP, Shropshire Lord-Lieutenant, to staff and retired nurses and physiotherapists at the The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH).

The idea to create and display the replica badge was the brainchild of retired physiotherapist, Gill Cripps, who led the hospital’s disabled swimming club for almost 30 years.

Gill, together with friends and former colleagues, members of the Old Oswestrians’ Physiotherapists Association, organised and funded the badge, with support from the hospital’s League of Friends.

“Being one of the lucky ones that was awarded the prestigious Dame Agnes badge, I feel an enormous sense of pride around my links to the hospital’s founder, as I know my former colleagues and friends feel too," she said.

“I’d like to thank my OOPA friends for their support, particularly in raising the funds needed for this and my good friend, Don Kent who helped me bring this idea to life.”

The badge was created by Chris Bladon from Ellesmere, who designed the metal work, while another Ellesmere-based firm, The Signtists worked on the finish of the badge.

Philip Hulse, therapy service manager at RJAH, said: “So much about this hospital is based around its unique heritage and that fills us staff members with an immense sense of pride, around what’s been achieved before us and I think that gives us hope and an expectation about the future of this wonderful hospital.”

Victoria Sugden, charity director of the League of Friends, added: "It’s a special part of the hospital’s history, which has had a lasting impact on those who received the badge, many of whom are League of Friends volunteers at the hospital, despite retiring many years ago.”