Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage is delighted to announce the launch of the Crucible website, the outcome of a project partnership with Nimbus and the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which brings together stories and records of the buildings and communities of the Royal Sussex County Hospital since 1828.

Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage coordinated the training of project researchers, and the collection of 20 oral histories with clinicians past and present, patients and other staff who have worked at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, capturing people’s stories and recollections of how hospitals in Brighton & Hove have impacted their lives.

Sussex County Hospital

We uncovered a wealth of fascinating memories, from stories of the Great Storm in 1987 and the Brighton Bombing in 1984 to advances in medical techniques, such as improvements in treatment of HIV, cancer and eye surgery. People recalled how the Royal Sussex County Hospital has affected their lives, families and communities as a place of change, experience, healing and development.

The website includes a newly commissioned artwork by artist Daniel Locke exploring the hospital’s history, based on workshops and discussions with hospital staff and past patients. This work will also be exhibited in the new hospital building on Eastern Road, Brighton from 2022.

Photo of ward in Latilla Building at BSUH. Courtesy of Bronwen Rowlands

The oral history recordings collected by Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage are all available to access on the website, along with archive material and photographs :

https://thecrucible.org.uk/

The project support from Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund and is part of Connect, the public art programme for the redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Old medical aids, BSUH