Remembering when Sir Tom Jones and Sir Henry Cooper opened West Suffolk Hospital fêtes, in Bury St Edmunds
Historian Terry O’Donoghue looks back at the lavish fêtes and bazaars that raised thousands of pounds for a Suffolk hospital.
From day one of the founding of the old West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, in 1826, fund-raising was always a necessity.
One of the earliest calendar events was an upmarket triennial bazaar held in the Guildhall, which would last two to three days.
A report from the fifth bazaar, in 1839, gives an insight into how popular it was.
“On entering the hall, shortly after 12 o’clock, we found it filled with a great number of nobility and fashion of the town.
“It was a splendid display of taste and industry.”
A total of 1,500 people paid to enter the bazaar on the first day, with the Guildhall becoming so overcrowded that the reporter struggled to get near the displays.
Many in attendance paid to go upstairs, to the council room, to view a model of the hospital crafted by Miss E Laithbury.
The model was later raffled and won by Earl Jermyn.
That year’s bazaar raised £2,481 for the hospital, a massive sum for 1839.
Despite the success of the bazaar, it was the summer fêtes that were to endure.
In August 1876 Mrs Milner Gibson, with the permission of her son George Gery Milner-Gibson Cullum, made Hardwick House and its grounds available to the hospital for a three-day event.
The riding stables were converted and festooned with bunting and, within the grounds, there was a pretend gipsy encampment, a hermit and astrologer who was kept busy all day telling fortunes.
At the time, the Bury and Norwich Post wrote about the encampment: “Mr F. Machell Smith whose ‘get up’ was so perfect that he would assuredly have been closely watched by the police at any country fair.”
Mr Smith was helped by his pal Mr Hedley Bevan, who invited visitors in to view his performing animals – in reality, a diminutive and very lazy pig.
Inside the house, Mrs Milner Gibson and many notable gentry of the town provided Victorian entertainment.
In the library there was a living waxwork and in the drawing room excerpts from Sheridan’s comedy ‘The Rivals’ performed by Mrs Milner Gibson and others.
Music was a central theme and included pieces composed especially for the event.
Hot air balloon stunt and unexpected injuries
In the final decades leading up to the Great War there were two noteworthy incidents.
Miss Alma Beaumont, a young American, ascended in a hot air balloon from the grounds of Hardwick House.
The spectacle, which drew crowds to a Whitsun gala in 1895, saw Miss Beaumont reach an altitude of between eight thousand to 10 thousand feet, before making a thrilling leap.
Descending by parachute, she landed in the Hawstead area.
When asked why she undertook the dangerous stunts, her reply was simple – ‘money’.
The second incident occurred in the 1890s. Cavalrymen from the Suffolk Hussars were fund-raising for the hospital by entertaining the public in Ickworth with their various drills.
Sadly, one of the cavalrymen was thrown from his horse, while avoiding a tree, and ended up a guest of the hospital, having suffered a broken leg.
Following the death of Mrs Milner Gibson, her son allowed the hospital fêtes to be an annual event at Hardwick Manor – until they were interrupted by the Great War.
His death and the subsequent break up of the estate in the 1920s could have seen an end to the hospital fêtes, but this was not the case.
The grounds of the renovated Hardwick Manor were made available whenever possible.
At other times other venues were offered, including the Culford estate, Fornham Hall and the Abbey Gardens.
After World War One the town soon saw the return of the annual hospital fête, one of several such galas that crowded the town’s calendar in the summer months.
The 1920s and 1930s were when the events were the most successful.
They were grand affairs attracting many thousands of people.
The interest was such that special buses and trains were laid on from nearby towns and villages to cope with the numbers wishing to come to the town.
The entertainment in 1926 was wide-ranging, from military bands to an inter-village tug-of-war competition.
There was a treasure hunt for half a sovereign and gymnastics displays performed by members of the Suffolk Regiment.
A particular highlight was a demonstration by the Life Guards ‘in full dress uniform on handsome black chargers’.
The day was brought to a close with a stunning fireworks display at sunset.
Crowds were treated to something different in 1933, when a great air pageant was held at Eldo Farm.
This was part of a nationwide fund-raising drive for hospitals.
In 1935, the Bury Free Press was once again reporting on the annual fête and devoted two pages to the late summer event.
More than 7,000 people were believed to have attended the event, which took place in the grounds of Hardwick Manor.
That year an agility display by Mrs Winchester’s Alsatian dogs was one of the highlights.
However, war was looming once again and the last pre-war hospital fête in 1939 was held within the grounds of Culford Hall. Les Cosaques were the main attraction.
Shortly after World War Two, in 1948, there was the birth of the NHS.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, any hospital events tended to be staged by the Friends of the Hospital.
By the 1970s the annual Round Table summer fête was firmly established for a number of years as the successor.
Celebrity guests
Its annual Whitsun Bank Holiday fête became a fund-raiser for many charities and attracted a number of celebrities to perform the opening ceremony.
In 1964, there was much talk amongst my school friends on travelling to Bury to catch a glimpse of the glamorous singer Kathy Kirby.
But we soon realised there was the insurmountable obstacle of a lack of funds to finance our project.
Other celebrities to follow included Sir Tom Jones and, in 1973, boxer Sir Henry Cooper and Miss UK Jenny McAdam, who had the difficult task of opening the fête in the drizzle.
Luckily, sunshine soon followed and the crowd was treated to an aerial display by two Jet Provosts from the RAF.
Looking back, we can only be in awe of the immense amount of time and energy that was devoted by volunteers to produce such great spectacles, attracting huge audiences.
We can also appreciate the efforts of those who today take on such challenges.
Copyright Terry O’Donoghue 2025.
