Casgliadau Arlein

Four-pint ward teapot from Bryn y Neuadd Hospital, Llanfairfechan. Until the late 1980s, tea was served with milk and sugar to patients en masse, regardless of personal preferences.

"You would have this huge teapot with milk, sugar, everything in one pot. So they would just pour sort of silky sweet, horrible tea for everyone. If you needed to give a drink to 20-30 people it was easier for the staff to just put one teapot together. Yeah, 'one size fits all' and that was the general approach to most things really". Source: Oral history interview with Pete Jones, former nurse at Bryn y Neuadd Hospital.

Collected as part of the 'Hidden Now Heard' oral history project. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this three year project (2014-17) led by Mencap Cymru captured the histories of residents, their families and staff from six former long stay hospitals in Wales for people with a learning disability. The hospitals included: Bryn y Neuadd Hospital, Llanfairfechan; Ely Hospital, Cardiff; Hensol Castle Hospital, Pontyclun; St David’s Hospital, Carmarthen; The North Wales Hospital, Denbigh; and Llanfrechfra Grange Hospital, Cwmbran.