MABEL Blackwell was a true stalwart of Savernake Hospital in Marlborough, having been a matron there from 1952 and 1965, and her kindness meant she would never let anyone spend Christmas Day on their own.

Much has been written about her and she is said to have had a steely exterior but underneath was someone who was extremely kind-hearted. She died aged 105 in 2009 and was a resident at Marlborough Lodge care home. Her ashes are buried in the grounds of the hospital.

Her life, and others who helped shape the hospital, is being researched and compiled by the Friends of Savernake Hospital and the Community, with the help of former committee member Val Compton as part of a ‘who’s who’ project.

Christmas was a particular highlight of the year for Miss Blackwell. Six weeks before Christmas, she would organise for all the nurses to begin practising for their carol concert. They would train every Monday for an hour and if they missed any training Miss Blackwell would not let them perform on the night.

Speaking in 2008 to Ms Compton, the matron said: “We went round all the wards on Christmas Eve, at 7 o’clock after all the supper things had been cleaned away.

“The patients were sat up in bed with all nice new nighties on because the photographers were there for the paper. The others used to say – how can you have such a lovely carol service – I said we like it and we practised for it.”

She forbid patients or family of patients to be alone on Christmas Day, so invited them to the hospital where doctors and nurses came with their partners to celebrate.

“The turkeys were brought in on a trolley, and the doctors used to carve away, then there would be a sister put a sausage on, a sister put the meat on – it was so beautifully arranged, the doctors used to take it round to the patients,” she said.

“The doctors used to love it and their children were brought into the kitchen. They sat them on chairs and I always remember all these seven little children belonging to the doctors – because you couldn’t get maids to work Christmas Day.”

She added: “It was a lovely atmosphere. It was a very happy time at Christmas.”