A RE-CREATION of a First World War military hospital ward in Stacksteads could be installed at Bacup Natural History Society and Museum.

The society is hoping to create an historically accurate room, complete with hospital beds, mannequin nurses and soldiers, and information about Bacup’s contribution to the war effort and troops’ stories.

The ward will be based on Fernhill Military Hospital, which treated more than 700 wounded soldiers from 1914 to 1919.

The hospital was set up in Fernhill House, a mansion off Newchurch Road, to provide aftercare for soldiers recovering from surgery, or suffering from injuries and problems which were not life threatening.

Wendy Lord, an historian and author and member of the society, is putting together an application for Lottery funding to clear out a storage space at the museum to reconstruct the ward.

She said: “Although we have photographs of the soldiers and nurses who were at Fernhill, we don’t have any pictures of the interior.

“The house was demolished in 1953 and a housing estate was built on the site.

“We’re using images of the house and various other military hospitals that were set up at the time to cope with the overflow of men from the hospitals.

“It’s going to be as accurate as it is possible to be. I’m looking at some of the men’s stories that were there.

“Very few of the men in military hospitals got to go to ones in their home towns.

“One of the men at Fernhill won the Distinguished Conduct medal in December 1915, for fighting in Galipoli. He was from Bedford.

“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to open the display in November, at around the same time the real hospital would have been opened.”