Granada Stepping Hill Hospital Stockport

A book of sketches and poems collected by a nurse at Stockport's Stepping Hill Hospital provides a fascinating insight into life on the wards caring for injured soldiers.

Mary Hicks started an autograph book in 1906 but it was soon filled by messages from soldiers right across the country who'd been sent there from the front line.

The hospital tracked down Mary's granddaughter in Poynton in Cheshire after her book was discovered in a second hand bookshop in Cornwall.

A book of sketches and poems collected by a nurse at Stockport's Stepping Hill Hospital during the First World War has been discovered.

Mary Hicks began the 'autograph book' in 1906 but most of the entries are from wounded soldiers she cared for, when the site became a military hospital in 1914.

The book was discovered in a second hand store in Cornwall and hospital staff turned detective to find the nurses relatives.

Nurse Hicks' granddaughter Sally-Anne Bromley was living just four miles away in Cheshire.

'I'm thrilled this is a new chapter in our family history. It is clear from the book her patients must have found her caring and great company to write so many messages. We are overwhelmed to read it.'