A DAY of celebrations is set to take place to mark 125 years of the foundation stone being laid for the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI).

An open day, taking place on September 8, will give people the chance to look around the old operating theatres and two of the Nightingale wards.

Also on offer will be treasures from the Lancaster Medical Museum collection, displays of old photographs dating back to 1897 and information about Lancaster Health Fair.

Guided tours will run every half an hour from 10.15am to 3.15pm.

Bryan Rhodes, orthopaedic consultant, for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT), and chair for Lancaster Medical Museum, said: “This is a great opportunity to showcase an important listed building at the heart of the RLI and reveal some of the museum’s important collection, including surgical and pill making equipment, old stethoscopes and a number of large plaques showing who made donations to pay for the hospital beds.”

Lancaster Medical Museum was started in 1990 and in 2016 won a Heritage Lottery Trust grant to look at ways of preserving and exhibiting its collection.

The museum’s collection includes more than 3,000 items collected from the Lancaster area, most of it being medical and surgical with some nursing items.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the group or volunteering on the day please contact Mr Rhodes on Bryan.Rhodes@mbht.nhs.uk between 10am and 4pm on September 8, hosted by Lancaster Medical Museum in Medical Unit 1.