Help us mark our time in history!

The Trust will be laying a time capsule within the foundations of the new imaging suite being built for the Montagu Community Diagnostic Centre at Montagu Hospital.

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The Trust will be laying a time capsule within the foundations of the new imaging suite being built for the Montagu Community Diagnostic Centre at Montagu Hospital. As part of this, the team involved are looking for your help and would like your suggestions for items to go inside the time capsule.

What can be put inside the time capsule?

Time capsules include items that a community would wish to remember and pass on to inspire future generations. The best items are those that tell a story and have a connection with our local people.

  • Some ideas are:
    a poem or story about life in the area
    a letter or record about the care you have received at Montagu hospital
    a picture painted of the hospital buildings and surrounding areas
    any local press coverage of Montagu from today’s times.

This is where you can help!

Please submit any ideas or suggestions you have to be included in the time capsule below. Alternatively, if you would like to donate an item, please get in touch: dbth.comms@nhs.net

Time capsule suggestions

Please send in your suggestions by Friday 2 August 2024.

Time capsules at Montagu

Montagu Hospital has quite a history of time capsules being placed within its grounds. There are at least two other capsules that the Trust is aware of that have been placed on the Mexborough site over the years.

Previously, a time capsule was placed within the foundations of the operating theatres at Montagu when they were constructed in 1987.

Colleagues and officials gather to embed the time capsule on the construction site of the operating theatres at Montagu Hospital.
In 2002, there were two glass capsules discovered within the bases of the pillars surrounding the entrance to Montagu Hospital. These glass jars dateback to 1924 and are now displayed within a cabinet in the boardroom at Montagu Hospital, along with the contents. Included within the capsules were newspaper clippings and hospital records.
Colleagues holding the time capsules discovered within the pillars of one of the entrances at Montagu Hospital

Where will the new time capsule be placed?

The capsule will be embedded within the entrance to the new facility that will house the medical imaging service as part of the Montagu Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC). The ceremony to lay the time capsule is scheduled to take place in early September so preparations are currently underway to gather items for the capsule ahead of this date. Therefore, any submissions or suggestions need to be sent by no later than Friday 2 August 2024.

An artist’s impression of the Montagu CDC building

What is the Community Diagnostic Centre? (CDC)

Diagnostic Centres are one-stop-shops for checks, scans and tests. Montagu CDC has been in development since January 2022. This marked the first phase of investment when a mobile MRI was placed onsite and was then joined in early February by a CT scanner. From there, the service grew to incorporate a fully functional endoscopy suite, with training facilities and multifunctional clinic rooms including ultrasound facilities. This new building marks the final stage of investment in the CDC service, to provide a purpose built facility for the imaging suite.

Once completed, the imaging suite will contain an MRI room, a CT room and two ultrasound suites, as well as a waiting area and further clinical support areas.

The building is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in early 2025 and will open to patients in the Spring.