North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary

When war broke out in 1914, up to 4,000 nurses were mobilised who had some preparation for war. But other than that, trained female nurses and untrained women flocked to join the surge for the war effort. In Stoke-on-Trent, the War Office took over the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary and turned it into a convalescent hospital for recovering soldiers staffed by Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses (also known as VADs).

BBC Radio Stoke recorded the story.