During research for Talking Tees Valley packs and blogs in preparation for the 75th anniversary of the NHS in July 2023, it was discovered that although we have a lot of items relating to nursing within our collections, there were very few stories about the nurses who used them. Around the same time, there was a news story about the first cohort of nurses who came to North Tees from the Philippines over 20 years ago.
Nursing the Tees Valley
Nursing the Tees Valley was a project to discover and record the missing stories of nurses and nursing across the Tees Valley. Interviews and oral histories were recorded, and shared with two local artists, culminating in an exhibition at Kirkleatham museum from August to October 2024.
Objects displayed in a case in the exhibition.
One of our Trainee Community Participation and Cultural Curators contacted North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, South Tees NHS Trust, Tees Esk Wear Valley NHS Trust and retired nurses who volunteered at Preston Park Museum. Ten participants came forward and each of their stories featured in the exhibition. The two artists, Lucas Roy and Chris Binns, who was also an ex-nurse, worked with the participants to record their stories.
Lucas included elements in a large painting, whereas Chris used photography to capture the nurses.
Over the course of 12 months, the participants were invited to regular group sessions to share stories with each other, the artists and the staff, they were given store tours,
looking particularly at the nursing artefacts to gather stories that could be added to collections. Each participant was also interviewed on a one-to-one basis so that their stories were collected and used within the interpretation within the exhibition. The public could hear elements of their interviews on the Museum in a Box, within the exhibition.
Artwork by Lucas Roy, as it was displayed at Kirkleatham Museum.
People using the museum in a box interactive to listen to nurses stories in the exhibition.
Nursing the Tees Valley’ ran from 23rd July to 25th September and was extremely popular with a lot of visitors to the museum during this time asking specifically for the exhibition.
Elements of the exhibition have since been displayed at the Caring Better Together: Tees Nursing and Midwifery Conference 2024 held at Teesside University on 21st & 22nd October. The conference was attended by over 260 Nursing and Midwifery staff from South and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trusts.
Elements of the exhibition on display at the 2024 Caring Better Together: Tees Nursing and Midwifery Conference.
The large painting by Lucas Roy and two framed prints by Chris Binns from the exhibition, all featuring aspects of our local hospitals and some of the past and present staff involved in the project, have been given to North Tees and Hartlepool NHS trust to be displayed North Tees Hospital. The large painting has been placed at the entrance to the Respiratory Ward as a reminder of the sacrifices and risks the nurses took during Covid.
People enjoying the exhibition on opening night. The photograph on display is by artist Chris Binns.
What we learned
The main learning taken away from this project was the power of the stories the nurses told, especially when linked with the collections. Oral histories take a long time to record and process, however having the voices of the nurses represented is remarkable.
The number of nursing staff within the Tees Valley is in the tens of thousands so these stories resonate and are meaningful to a large proportion of the population. By listening to and recording these missing stories we have managed to add a human element to a mainly medical and scientific area of our collections.
Continued Partnership Work
As a result of this project, links have been established between TVMG and the NHS Trusts and we are one of the first people to be invited to sit on their Visual Arts Council to advise on the development health and wellbeing programmes for staff and patients using the art in the Tees Valley. (Tees Valley is one of only a handful of NHS Trusts who do not currently have arts and wellbeing provision within their service.)
Since the exhibition was on display we have continued our work with North Tees and Hartlepool and are discussing how to create an Art in Hospitals programme using more pieces, or prints of, art in our collections to engage and encourage staff, patients and visitors to slow down, be mindful and take a minute to support their mental health.