Group Captain Ross Tilley

August 12, 2021

During World War Two,  Archibald McIndoe, a pioneering Plastic Surgeon,  treated burnt airmen at  the Queen Victoria Hospital (Q.V.H) East Grinstead.  Working alongside him was an equally talented Canadian plastic surgeon, Group Captain Albert Ross Tilley.  Ross Tilley also helped to rebuild lives and made such an impact that the

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Nursing at Queen Victoria Hosptial

June 30, 2021

This Spring, we have been joined by Masters Student Isabel Pace, who has been researching stories about the Guinea Pig Club as part of her remote placement at the museum. She has researched the role of nurses, based on the work of Liz Byrski who interviewed nurses who worked with

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Tributes to the Guinea Pig Club

January 14, 2021

Tributes to the Guinea Pig Club As part of the Guinea Pig Club’s 80th Anniversary in 2021, Bob Marchant, the Secretary of the Club, looks at the many ways the Club is commemorated. As we are now entering the year 2021 , it will see the 80th Anniversary of the

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Mollie Lentaigne celebrates her 100th Birthday

May 5, 2020

Mollie Lock (nee Lentaigne) was a VAD Red Cross Nurse, who became a Medical Artist working with Sir Archibald McIndoe doing her time at the Queen Victoria Hospital during the war years. Mollie met McIndoe at a party where she was attempting to draw him. He was impressed by her

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McIndoe after the Second World War

April 10, 2020

Archibald McIndoe after the Second World War With the end of the Second World War in 1945,  Archibald McIndoe showed no interest in slowing down his heavy workload at the Queen Victoria Hospital. He was knighted in the honours list in June 1947 and that year’s annual dinner of the

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Military Nurses Visit East Grinstead Museum

August 2, 2017

On Wednesday 19th of July, East Grinstead Museum welcomed 8 Military Nurses from both the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead and Birmingham for a tour of the Rebuilding Bodies and Souls exhibition. The Military Nurses held a fund raising event at the Queen Victoria Hospital and kindly donated half the funds

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A Good Read for the Summer…..

July 19, 2017

East Grinstead Museum’s exhibition ‘Rebuilding Bodies & Souls’ tells the story of Sir Archibald McIndoe, world-famous plastic surgeon, and his pioneering work on the young airmen who were shot down & badly burned during WW2.  They knew that they were his ‘guinea pigs’, and so the infamous ‘Guinea Pig Club’

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Guinea Pig Club members, an actress, international visitors and a live BBC Radio Broadcast!

June 30, 2017

June has been an exciting month… On Saturday the 17th of June East Grinstead Museum welcomed VIP guests,Guinea Pig Club members Jack Perry and John Miles; accompanied by friends and family including actress Fiona Dolman.  Bob Marchant, Secretary of the Guinea Pig Club and Museum Trustee, led a guided tour of

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“….in what was formerly a dusty lumber-room of the Church Tower…”

June 14, 2017

A volunteer bought these lovely ‘East Grinstead and its Parish Church’ booklets to my attention. The oldest of these seen on the left, is dated 1934 and sold for Threepence;  beautifully illustrated and printed by Exors of H.W. Cullen of East Grinstead, and low and behold include articles about East Grinstead Museum. The Museum

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A Guided Tour of Queen Victoria Hospital

March 24, 2017

Bob Marchant, honorary member of the Guinea Pig club and once an operating theatre technician at the Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH) under Sir Archibald McIndoe, kindly gave a few of us museum staff a tour of the hospital. Built as a town hospital, the impact of WWII led to the

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