A CENTURY of community care was celebrated in Corbridge at the weekend as local people gathered at Charlotte Straker House.

The centenary of the charity which runs the care facility, the Charlotte Straker Project, was marked with a traditional summer fete on Saturday and centenary garden party on Sunday.

Residents Lily Smith and Ada Lyons, who are both set to mark their own 100th birthdays this year, helped to plant a Charlotte rose to mark the occasion.

The facility has stood the test of time in the face of a closure bid, funding shortages and constant changes in care standards to become a much-loved and unshakeable Tynedale institution.

And it all began with a philanthropic act from a member of Corbridge’s Straker family, who lived at Howden Dene back in 1918. Joseph Henry Straker gave what was then a private dwelling, known as Prior House, to the community for use as a hospital. It was accompanied by a gift of £5,000 for its upkeep.

The building was given in memory of his beloved wife Charlotte Maria, who died of complications from measles. In those days, only the wealthy could afford any kind of health care, so Joseph’s act of benevolence was priceless to the poor of the community.

The birth of the NHS in 1948 meant the hospital was absorbed into the new regime and fell under the umbrella of Hexham Hospital for provision in the Tynedale area.

By 1979, Charlotte Straker was a busy cottage hospital with eight GP beds used by the Corbridge Medical Practice and 16 consultant beds supervised by Hexham Hospital. “Looking after our own patients in this hospital was hugely rewarding, time consuming, but great fun,” said Dr Cunningham, one of the founding members of the charity and a previous chairman of trustees.

“At that time there were very few nursing homes in Tynedale and most elderly care took place in the patient’s home by relatives in long term NHS beds.”

The prospect of losing the hospital in 1987, due to a Northumberland Health Authority decision to redirect funding, prompted the formation of a steering group which secured a £1m redevelopment of the site.

The money paid for eight sheltered housing bungalows, the refurbishment of the existing hospital and a new wing with nursing beds and four flats. The Charlotte Straker Project Trust was then formed to manage and maintain the site.

A blow was struck when the NHS GP beds that had been run from 1994 were not recommissioned. In 2015, the closure of the NHS funded Palliative Care Unit followed. But the trustees, supported by the community, fought back and in 2016 an appeal was launched to raise £120,000 to fund a respite care bed for a three-year project, to provide one free respite care bed for the community.

“We are an organisation which has come full circle,” said Berenice Groves, the current chairwoman of trustees.

“I am convinced that if Joseph Straker was here today, he would be amazed and gratified at how we have grown. I’m delighted that we are celebrating our centenary and a century of remarkable commitment and care.”