This cache is not really a cache and dash, try to make time to explore the park. Placing this cache will help us remember and to spare a thought for those who fought for our freedom and for those in our armed forces today.
Royal Victoria Country Park .
The Royal Victoria Hospital, when built, was Britain's largest military hospital. The main building was ¼ mile long, had 138 wards and approximately 1000 beds. The need for such an hospital was realised during the Crimean War (1854 - 56) when the Army had no large purpose built hospitals to treat casualties. The foundation stone was laid by Queen Victoria on 19th May 1856 and the hospital opened for patients in 1863. Florence Nightingale was keen to be involved with the design of Netley Hospital. Queen Victoria, before her death in 1901, visited Netley many times, either from Windsor by train or across the Solent by boat from her home, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight. During these visits she awarded three Victoria Crosses to patients at Netley. One was received by Private Hitch (24th Regt.) in recognition for his bravery at Rorke's Drift in 1879, while Piper Findlater (Gordon Highlanders) and Private Vickery (Dorset Regt) both received theirs for actions in the Tirah Campaign on the North West Frontier of India. One of the doctors who trained at Netley was Dr Watson, the partner of Sherlock Holmes. In 1914, when World War 1 (WW1) started, Netley expanded to accommodate approximate 2000 beds by building a large Red Cross hutted hospital in fields at the rear of the main hospital. In total some 50,000 patients were treated by the main hospital and Red Cross hospital in WW1. One of the patients was the war poet Wilfred Owen who was evacuated to Netley with shell shock and was later transferred to Craighlockhart hospital in Edinburgh. In 1939, when WW2 commenced, Red Cross/St John's Ambulance staff were again mobalised for service at Netley. The hospital treated many casualties including those from the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. After the war the main hospital building fell into disuse and became derelict from about 1955. In 1963 a large fire damaged vast sections of the building. In 1966 it was finally demolished leaving just the chapel.
The Hospital Cemetery.
Of all the casualties brought to the hospital, only a small proportion (5%) died whilst in the hospital's care. The military cemetery was established and opened in June 1864 to accommodate service men, their families and workers from the hospital. It was strategically located out of view of the main hospital, in what is now referred to as Cemetery Wood. These days, the cemetery is a very peaceful place, away from the activity in the centre of the country park. A visit to the cemetery will reveal the headstones of the young and old who lost their lives.
To find the cache go to the Remembrance co-ords and get the required clues from the plaque. It is a micro/small cache and can only hold the log book and pen.
The cache is at N50°51.9AA W001°19.9B (The Cache is not hidden in the Cemetery)
A= SouthAfrica
B= Canada+Poland+Austria
Happy hunting from the Brodie Clan 