A SPECIAL matinee performance, given at the Woolston Picture Theatre one afternoon a hundred years ago this week in aid of the British Red Cross Hospital funds, provided an interesting attraction for the local townsfolk.

By kind permission of Mr BJ Buck, the manager of the picture theatre, and in addition to the very fine cinema films presented on the theatre billing, patrons were also entertained with an interesting lantern lecture on Netley Hospital given by Mr James T Eltringham.

The Daily Echo reports at the time claimed the event was regarded as a pleasing success as the audience was a fairly large one, and altogether a very substantial sum for the fund was realised.

Mr Eltringham said the hospital was exactly a quarter of a mile in length and contained no fewer than 1,800 beds.

For the benefit of the Indian soldiers and others who came from tropical climates a special corridor right throughout the whole length of the building had been made available, so that they could get as much warmth from the sun as possible.

Though the number of wounded soldiers who had gone to the hospital during the present war was considerably greater than the number during the Boer war, the death rate up to the present was only one per cent.

The first set of pictures depicted the grounds of Netley Hospital, showing the pier, promenade and Crimean cross.

Daily Echo: The pier at Netley Hospital, which was often the first sight that greeted wounded soldier as they were landed from the battlefields of Europe for treatment at the Hospital.

The slides giving representations of the interior of the building were especially good and well received.

The chief scenes displayed included the principal wards, the operating theatre, the officers' library, the men’s dining room, the sick officers’ day room and the concert hall.

One of the most interesting images of all was one showing the huge bake houses, where many hundreds of loaves of bread were made daily, and the dynamos, which would supply the entire building with electric light power.

As well as the impressive pictures of the building itself, there was also a collection of slides of some of the inmates being tended at Netley, which left viewers with a long-lasting, if somewhat shocking, impression.

These other pictures showed groups of soldiers who had been victims of the German gas attacks, and were now, alas, totally blind; while also displaying photos of companies of Indian warriors basking in the sunshine on the hospital’s beautiful lawns.

The concluding slide depicted wounded “Tommies” being landed at the Southampton Docks, and conveyed in the ambulance trains to Netley.

At the conclusion of the lecture several special animated films were presented, which included A Day with the Belgian Army and The Red Cross Nurse (a powerful drama, dealing with treachery in time of war), and several humorous farces.

A word of praise was given to acknowledge the theatre’s wonderful orchestra, who, at intervals, rendered some delightful selections of music for those who attended.