- The market town of Bourne, Lincolnshire, England -

The Bourne Nursing Association was established in the late 19th century through the encouragement of Alderman William Wherry (1841-1915). He proposed that such an organisation should be formed with voluntary subscriptions and public grants as a permanent memorial to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 but the suggestion got a mixed reception and there was some opposition.

Nevertheless, Alderman Wherry pressed on with his idea and the association was formed two years later in 1899 and he became its president. Within ten years, nurses were making almost 2,000 visits a year to treat patients in their own homes, in the town as well as Dyke and Cawthorpe villages, and it was at this time in 1909, that the association was offered a property for use as a cottage hospital, a large detached house of red brick and blue slate on the corner of North Road and Meadowgate. The house, called Brooklands, had been the home of Mr Joseph Butterfield who had moved from Yorkshire some years before and when he died, it had passed to his spinster sister and on her death, it was left to the trustees of her will to dispose of the estate.

The official opening of the hospital took place on 28th June 1910 and was performed by the Countess of Ancaster who lived at nearby Grimsthorpe Castle. The cottage hospital soon became a valued medical amenity for the town and district. Regular fund raising also continued to boost hospital finances with an annual subscription from the Earl of Ancaster and other donations from all sections of the community, some as small as one penny.

In 1921, the building was greatly enlarged and a stone tablet over the side entrance door records that the extensions were erected "in grateful remembrance of those who gave their lives in the Great War of 1914-1918". It now had two wards of five beds each, one for men on the first floor together with an operating room and one for women and children on the ground floor with other rooms for offices and a flat for the matron whilst there was a wooden extension at the rear for outpatients. 

The hospital continued to provide a valuable medical service for the town and protest petitions helped it survive several attempts at closure but financial restraints and a streamlining of National Health Service resources eventually sounded the death knell and it closed in 1983. Officers from Age Concern in Bourne, supported by local councillors, persuaded Lincolnshire County Council to buy the building from the Peterborough Area Health Authority for £26,000 for use as a day centre by old people and this has been its role since 1985.

It is known as the Butterfield Day Care Centre, now a registered charity which is self-financing but assisted with grants from local authorities. In 1989, the facility was catering for 300 people with day care provision for a further 120, the average age of members being 77, and its operation was seen as a means of keeping the elderly out of sheltered accommodation by allowing them to stay in their own homes and remain active in the community. By 2001, it was open only on four days a week, catering for around 30 people a day with an average age of 84. By 2002 there were 90 elderly visitors a week and the centre was offering meals and social activities together with bathing facilities, hairdressing, chiropody, a library, a domestic service offering help in 80 homes and gardens and, most importantly, a place where the elderly can meet and talk, knowing that they will be picked up and returned home in the centre's minibus.

This is a large building in a commanding location and although other local organisations meet here, such as the Family History Society, many consider that it remains under-used. 

A history of the Butterfield Hospital can be found in A Portrait of Bourne