County Museum Society presentation to Dungarvan Community Hospital

The HSE’s Dungarvan Community Hospital are delighted to have been presented by the Waterford County Museum Society with a series of framed photographs, for display in corridors, common areas and foyers in the hospital complex.

Since Waterford County Museum Society’s foundation in 1982, the volunteers that make up the group have run a museum premises in Dungarvan. Initially situated in the Market House on Main St., it has been housed since 1999 at the Town Hall on Friary St.

The Museum Society also host a collection of over 5,000 historical images on their “Waterford County Images” web site. It is from this resource of heritage photographs (copyrighted by the Museum Society and/or respective owners) that a selection, featuring locations and people (some of them well known) from Dungarvan and surrounding areas, has been gifted to the hospital to serve as conversation pieces for residents, staff and visitors.   

Dungarvan Community Hospital provides long-term care for 102 older persons (including specialised care for people with dementia). Respite services, day care services, convalescence care and end-of-life care are also provided. An additional 28 residents are cared for in the Dunabbey House residential nursing unit, also on the hospital campus.

Speaking about the presentation, Paula French (Director of Nursing, Dungarvan Community Hospital) said:

“Dungarvan Community Hospital has an excellent reputation as a care facility and the team here are deeply appreciative of the support we get from families and the wider community around us. The photos gratefully received from Museum Society will sit well on our walls with the many other images we have and continue to enjoy, including art works created by residents.”

“It will encourage memory and chat to see the Museum Society donated images like”:

• The now gone outdoor swimming pool, which was a popular feature for over 30 years at the Look Out in Dungarvan until its closure in the 1970s.  
• Cars with “KI” registrations parked on Grattan Square in Dungarvan.
• A queue outside the former Ormonde Cinema in Dungarvan, waiting to see two of the big movies released in 1989.
• A Corpus Christi procession of the early 1970s coming through Grattan Square in Dungarvan.
• The interior of the former Tom Curran’s hardware shop in Dungarvan.
• A steam train crossing the viaduct at Ballyvoile (now a part of the Waterford Greenway).
• A Morris Minor car parked on the road and some locals in Baile na nGall, An Rinn, some 60 years ago.
• Villierstown’s John Treacy en route to winning the World Cross Country Championship race in Limerick in 1979.
• Waterford senior hurling team, prior to winning a Munster Championship tie on the way to winning the All Ireland of 1959. The front row in the picture includes Abbeyside’s Austin Flynn, who served for many years as a valued member of staff in Dungarvan Community Hospital.

“We have a keen sense of our own history at Dungarvan Community Hospital. We can track it from the Workhouse opened on site in 1844, the opening of the Fever Hospital in 1875 and arrival around that time of infirmary nurses of the Sisters of Mercy, through to the establishment of the County Home in 1920. In later years, there was the creation of Dungarvan District Hospital in 1971, the opening of Dunabbey House in 1974, and the merging of the new Vincent’s Unit and St. Joseph’s Hospital in 2010 to constitute Dungarvan Community Hospital. We have also had the addition of other healthcare facilities on site along the way, including the opening of the Dungarvan Primary Care Centre in 2018. We have enjoyed engaging with the County Museum Society in the past and look forward to doing so into the future.”