Broughton House

In 1916, post the horrendous Battle of the Somme, a campaign led by the Earl of Derby resulted in the purchase of five large villas in the Manchester area to deal with heavily injured soldiers from the Pals Regiments. The hospitals at the time could not cope. The first patient at Broughton House was a chap called Charlie Fox - there is a photograph on the wall, as well as one of Lord Kitchener who visited in 1920.

After 1918 four of the villas were sold off, but Broughton House in Salford continued, run by a charitable trust. Amazingly it is one of only two facilities in the North of England (the other is in Ripon), providing residential care to ex servicemen, notwithstanding that the North is a key recruiting ground for the armed services. As with a lot of things, everything else is in the South.

100 years on the whole business rationale and facilities need re-thinking for the 21st century, as the Falklands veterans, and then those from the Afghan and Iraq conflicts, get to 55 years of age. There are lots of health issues now, never mind as the men (and increasingly women) get older.

There is a little museum associated with Broughton House, and over the years lots of people have donated all sorts of things. It is very eclectic. As might be expected, there are lots of medals, each of which meant something to someone and their families, once upon a time.