A sombre reminder of a tragedy in Reading where 13 children died will be installed at the hospital where it happened.
On Easter Sunday in 1954, a devastating fire ripped through the Dellwood Community Hospital in West Reading.
Tragically, 13 babies were killed in the fire.
Freda Holland, a nurse, was awarded the George Cross for her efforts to save the lives of some of the children in the maternity ward, reportedly using a nursing cap to bat away the flames.
She will be remembered in a plaque as part of a redevelopment of the building.
A developer has won permission to conduct demolition, extension and conversion works to turn the building into a 56-bed care home, which was initially given the go-ahead in June 2022.
The memorial plaque was mentioned during discussion about the details of the landscaping for the redevelopment at a meeting of Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee last month.
Councillor Jo Lovelock (Labour, Norcot) said: “I want to remind people of the condition we put on this when it was first approved all of those years ago, and it’s such a long time ago, I’m always bothered that people might forget.
“People will recall there was a horrendous fire back in the 1950s where a number of babies died, but there was also some heroic rescues as well.
“And we agreed that we would have a plaque that commemorated that event, and thank particularly the midwife who rescued the babies.
“I just want to make sure that is still on the agenda.
“If they [the developers] are going to go ahead with this, which I hope they do, they do remember that they are going to do that.”
Matt Burns confirmed that there is a condition to create a plaque to commemorate the children and Freda Holland.
However, councillors did raise questions about the placement and management of new trees in the landscaping plan.
Cllr Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey) said: “I didn’t know whether it is a coincidence or not that there are 13 new native trees.
“I kind of figured it may have been a coincidence, because 11 of those trees are in one place and two in another.
“Thinking about the heritage of the site, why couldn’t they put the 13 trees together?”
Mr Burns replied that it was coincidental that 13 trees and 13 parking spaces were proposed for the project.
Cllr Josh Williams (Green, Park) questioned why the landscaping plan was split between a 12-month period and a five-year period.
Mr Burns answered that the 12-month period would be for the people who plant the trees, and the five years applies to the care home operators.
After that, no tree management plan will apply.
Councillors unanimously approved the landscaping plans at the meeting on February 4.
You can view the application by typing reference PL/25/0835 into the council’s planning portal.
