Uncertainty over the future of Teignmouth Hospital is not holding back the League of Friends who have donated funds to redecorate the outpatients area and to provide three televisions for the waiting areas.

The donations are thanks to legacies from Emma Dewey and Elizabeth Higham.

‘Some locals think Teignmouth Hospital is closed, but that could not be further from the truth,’ said Teignmouth Hospital League of Friends Secretary Viv Wilson MBE. ‘It remains a very busy establishment with numerous clinics and operations carried out annually.’

Teignmouth Hospital has been under threat of closure since 2018. Last year, a call to reconsider the closure was referred to the Secretary of State. ‘A response is awaited but the process is a slow one,’ Viv noted. ‘The League is treading water while the decision to overturn the plan to close the hospital continues,’ she said, adding that ‘the League believes that the town of Teignmouth will be hugely diminished if it were to lose its hospital on Mill Lane.’

If a decision to retain the hospital is reached, the League said it looks forward to ‘harnessing up’ to reinvigorate its fundraising efforts.

The League of Friends of Teignmouth Hospital is now in its 71st year. The charity was founded on St George’s Day in 1954.

Viv, a prominent local historian who will be exploring Teignmouth’s history in a show at the Pavilions on Saturday (March 2), recounted that the key person from the outset was Frank Russell, son of Bank Street gentlemen’s outfitter, Bert Russell. ‘The Russell family was much respected for community involvement,’ she said.

‘In earlier years, when the League was a prime charity known to almost everyone in Teignmouth, significant financial support was provided by local people through annual subscriptions and particularly from bequests,’ Viv noted. Teignmouth residents have been magnanimous, and their generosity has enabled well over £1 million to be invested in the building and its services.