Those were the days - 90 years of caring for Doncaster people

From birth to death and everything inbetween, it has been a constant comfort to Doncaster for nearly nine decades.

For it was on October 12, 1926, ninety years ago this week that the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone for the new infirmary which opened four years later in 1930.

DRI started life as the Doncaster Dispensary in French Gate in 1792 while the foundation stone of the first purpose-built hospital was laid in the town centre in 1852.

A site for a new hospital to replace the one in Whitaker Street was purchased from the Fitzwilliam Estate at the junction of Thorne Road and Armthorpe Road in the early 1920s.

Following the Prince of Wales’ approval in 1926, the infirmary first welcomed patients in 1930 and was officially opened by Lord Lonsdale in 1935.

The East Ward Block opened in 1968, the Women’s Hospital in 1969 and the Children’s Hospital in 1989 and since then the sprawling site has continued to grow with hundreds of people passing throught the gates on a daily basis.