Page 8 - QARANC Vol 20 No 1 2022

8 The Gazette QARANC Association
Nightingale sculpture
A statue of Florence Nightingale has been unveiled outside the former Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot, which has been refurbished into luxury apartments.
Developer Weston Homes worked with Hampshire sculptor Amy Goodman to create a bronze bust which will stand on a stone plinth at the front of the former hospital, which treated patients for 115 years until its closure in 1996.
The building now forms part of the Gun Hill Park residential development. Bob Weston, chairman and chief
executive of Weston Homes said: “Florence Nightingale was not only influential in her time as the founder of modern nursing but was also significant in the design behind the Cambridge Military Hospital.
“It seemed only right to us that, whilst making sure the building itself was restored in a way to reflect its history, we also paid tribute to her
through commissioning this statue. We are delighted with Amy Goodman’s work and are sure that the residents at Gun Hill Park and the surrounding community will admire it for years to come.”
Ms Goodman said Florence Nightingale was “inspiring and iconic,” and added that she had wanted to capture her Florence’s “poise, kindness, intelligence, and strength” that is visible in portraits of her by William Edward Kilburn in c.1856 and Claudius Erskine Goodman in c.1858.
The plinth is made of high-quality Portland stone, often used for memorials and commemorative sculpture.
Ms Goodman has two other sculptures in Princes Gardens in the vicinity of Gun Hill Park – the jump ready ‘Airborne soldier’ unveiled in 2019, depicting the Parachute Regiment during the Falklands War, and The ‘Gurkha Memorial.’
QA members attended the unveiling of the Florence Nightingale statue in October. See their report and photos on page 16.
QARANCReunionLu ch2022 21 May 2022
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