I GUESS the plan wouldn’t gain much traction now, what with all the multi-million pound contracts floating about and the general change in public expectations, but when Worcester set out to build a new hospital in the 1760s one suggestion was that people might like to support the project by making their own bricks.

The city already had an infirmary, which opened in a large house in Silver Street in 1746 - only the seventh of its kind in England incidentally – but it wasn’t long before that was proving inadequate and the search for a better place began.

A site was soon identified on a plot of land being used as an artichoke field at the back of a house owned by Dr John Wall of Worcester Porcelain fame just off Salt Lane, now Castle Street.

It lay on the south side of the lane overlooking Pitchcroft and a budget of just over £6,000 was set for the new hospital. It was to be designed by Anthony Keck, one of the south west’s leading architects.

The building of hospitals was in its infancy, but Keck had made his mark by designing fine country houses, his piece de resistance being Penrice Castle in Glamorgan.

Work started in Worcester in 1768 and to speed it along a brickworks was set up on Pitchcroft. Word went out that anyone who could help in brick production or bring in more materials would be most welcome.

How labour or materials was paid for is not recorded, but the assumption must be that neither was provided for free. Although being part of this grand new city project probably carried some sort of social kudos. Not something that would apply now.

The new hospital was declared open in 1771 and the patients were transferred from Silver Street. That building became a notable private boys school known as Dr Simpsons Academy and many prominent Worcester citizens received their education there.

In the 1850s, when culture and self-improvement began to develop in the new artisan classes, the building became the Working Men’s Institute and was supported by all the progressives in the city. Its most fervent backers covered a broad church, from local aristocrats to four fugitives from European revolutions – a German, a Pole and two Hungarians.

A spacious lecture hall was built in the grounds and a library developed. The Working Men’s Institute played an important role in Worcester by showing the need and demand for adult education. It led to the grander Victoria Institute in Foregate Street and paved the way for pubic libraries for the working classes.

Meanwhile back at the new Infirmary off Salt Lane finance was invariably an issue. The development was considerably reliant on voluntary contributions and it’s reassuring to know cajoling techniques have not much changed there.

By the early 19th century it had  become the custom to invite possible doners to attend a “charity sermon” preached by the Dean of Worcester in the Cathedral. After which everyone would repair to the Hop Pole Inn in Foregate Street where it was hoped purse strings would be loosened by the hospitality on offer.

Whether in 2022 the prospect of listening to a dean’s sermon and then getting tanked in a local pub would lead to substantial bank transfers I am not sure.

But nowadays we tend not to make our own bricks either.