They explained to the Mayor that Wells U3A is 28 years old and currently has 640 members who run 52 interest groups ranging from Local History, Chemistry, Badminton to Theatre Visits or Chess.
A new photo exhibition about the Somerset and Bath Pauper Lunatic Asylum was opened at Wells and Mendip Museum by the Mayor on 5th June.
One visitor found a photograph of her great grandmother who is buried in the asylum’s cemetery and said: "To see a photograph of a relative has been overwhelming. I came to the exhibition hoping to obtain information on how I might find more details but I have found her. I am still shaking with emotion."
The visitor, who came all the way from Clevedon, is now going to look for her burial place in the Mendip Hospital Cemetery in Wells.
The exhibition tells the story of patients and staff of the asylum – later renamed the Mendip Hospital – at South Horrington near Wells through 100 photographs from the archives of the Mendip Hospital Cemetery and the museum.
There are nearly 3,000 buried at the cemetery but these 100 people’s stories give an authentic taste of life in a Victorian asylum.
The major causes of admission included poverty, alcoholism, epilepsy, sexual disease, and physical and mental disability.
Many of the patients had manic depression, dementia and post-natal depression which in the early days of psychiatry were not differentiated from mania or melancholia.
The Mayor said: “This is a wonderful exhibition which I am sure will be extremely popular. Huge praise is due to the diligent volunteers who made it possible.”
A mental health worker who visited the exhibition at the weekend said: “I found the sensitive attention to detail and in depth history on the individuals respectfully presented. Thank you for reinstating the lives of people past. It was an invaluable insight into the life of the Victorian asylum.”
The exhibition is open in the museum on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am-4pm till July 10.
Sunday, 6th June saw a Choral Evensong in Wells Cathedral to celebrate the centenary of the Royal British Legion in Somerset. The photo shows the Mayor with Legion representatives from across the county after the service.
