IT was one of York's most unprepossessing buildings. But, for countless residents, it was the first place they ever saw.

Many mums will have happy memories of Fulford Maternity Hospital. It closed down 20 years ago this month and with it went a chunk of York social history.

Opened in autumn 1954, it took over from Acomb Hall, also known as Blue Hall, which had been York's maternity hospital from December 1922.

Acomb History Group member John Terry, of Poppleton Road, York, is giving a talk on Acomb Hall next year and sent in a picture of a garden party held in the grounds on September 16, 1944 in aid of the RAF Benevolent Fund.

"It was reported in the Yorkshire Evening Press on September 18, 1944, and there was a baby show," writes Mr Terry.

"Those gaining prizes were Baby Cambridge, Baby Fowler and Baby Wylie."

He asks: do the families still live in York? Any more details would be much appreciated and Mr Terry may be contacted on (01904) 798956.

"Any other photographs or memories of the hall, including the fish ponds, would be very useful and interesting," he adds.

As well as Acomb Hall, maternity services were available at Hazelwood Castle near Tadcaster from the war on. Today it is a luxury hotel; back then accommodation was basic. Mains electricity was only installed in 1952. It closed a year later when the lease ran out.

A serious shortage of maternity beds meant something had to be done. And it was. The new maternity hospital was opened in 1954 on the same site as Fulford Hospital.

With 114 beds, it was one of the largest in the country and included an ante-natal ward, a premature baby ward, four lying-in wards, an isolation block and a delivery block.

It was officially opened on November 5 by Iain McLeod, minister for health. Halfway through his visit a baby was born, Paul Andrew Winstanley. He wasn't the first arrival - the hospital had been up and running before the minister unveiled the plaque - but Paul received a congratulatory letter nonetheless.

A report by the York and Tadcaster Hospital Management Committee that year summed up the achievement. "It is gratifying to know that this much needed improvement and expansion of our hospital services in the York district is now functioning, and that out of the unpromising material of a war-time hutted hospital built as a complete hospital for the Emergency Medical Services, used first as a military and later as a prisoner of war hospital, and handed back to the Ministry of Health early in 1949, has been created a centre comprising a maternity hospital and a general hospital which can compare favourably with any in the country."

The conversion cost £206,000. Around each bed was a light, curtain screens, a locker and a cupboard. "A piece of hand-thrown pottery has been provided on each bedside locker both as an ornament and for use as a flower vase, while radio programmes are available to each patient by means of a pillow telephone," the Evening Press reported.

One of the midwives who worked for nearly the entire history of the Fulford Maternity Hospital is Sister Ellen Willey. Ellen, a Geordie, was a state registered nurse in London with a first part midwifery qualification when she got the job in York after being inspired to come here by a tutor from the city.

She never intended to specialise in this side of medicine. When finishing her general training she was seconded to work in a maternity unit for three months. "It's funny how fate works," she said. "I really, really enjoyed it. I just felt that was what I wanted to do."

Fulford Maternity Hospital was a teaching hospital which would allow her to complete her second part midwifery qualification. But it was with some trepidation that she arrived in December 1958.

"I can remember getting off the train from Darlington at York and getting into a taxi to go to the hospital," she said.

"It was way out in the wilderness. I thought, 'my God, where on earth am I going to be?'

"But once I was there it was fine."

Ellen soon settled in. "It was a small hospital. Everybody knew everybody else. There was a real family atmosphere."

In those early days, there was not a lot to the place.

"You are talking about Nissen huts. It was just a basic maternity hospital.

"We didn't have any high-tech in those days." But there was nursing home accommodation and a canteen.

"We were well looked after, there's no doubt about that."

Ellen later specialised in special baby care nursing. "It was very traumatic for the parents. We didn't have any sophisticated equipment at all.

"We just had us: our eyes and ears and hands. We relied on one another very much indeed.

"In those days we had the mothers to look after as well. It wasn't easy."

Unlike today, dads were out of the picture. Fathers only started to attend births in the Sixties.

"It was just coming in. Some of the consultants didn't like it if the dads were there. They'd say, 'Get him out, get him out!'"

But the mums were expected to stay. "They were in for ten or 14 days, what they called the lying-in period. It was to get the mums back on their feet.

"When you think about it, at least the mothers were away from home and got the rest they needed before they got home."

The biggest change during her time in service was the introduction of new technology.

"All the different machines that came in through the time I was there, it was wonderful," said Ellen, 71.

"First, we got the monitors, and we thought what a big help this is. We didn't have ventilators or anything like that, so it was magic when they came in."

New techniques were also being pioneered to give early arrivals the best possible chance of survival.

But the fundamentals of teaching first-time mums how to breast feed, change a nappy and bath their baby haven't altered, said Ellen.

She can never walk into York without being stopped by one of her mothers or babies now grown up. "It's just lovely. I still get Christmas cards from them."

The Fulford building shut when they moved to the purpose-built York District Hospital 20 years ago.

"It was a real culture shock, not knowing anyone."

But the facilities were state of the art, and soon Sister Ellen and her colleagues were helping a new generation into the world.

As for Fulford, "I have nothing but happy memories. It was a life-and-death place like all hospitals are, but looking back on it, yes, we had a happy time up there."

Updated: 08:59 Monday, December 15, 2003