Much has been written about how the Great Western Railway provided more than just a job for its employees. With the huge railway works in the town, Swindon still shows the legacy of many of these in bricks and mortar.
St Marks, the Railway church visible as you leave Swindon station heading West, looked after their spiritual needs. There were community facilities, libraries and perhaps best known health services.
The Health Hydro on the corner of Faringdon Road and Milton Road (originally known as the Milton Road Baths) opposite the Railway Village provided medical, optician, dentistry and chiropody facilities all under one roof alongside swimming pools and Turkish baths. Aneurin Bevan visited the building in the build up to the setting up of the NHS after the Second World War.
Today Swindon Heritage has unveiled the sixth of its blue plaques in the town to mark the
GWR▸ 's contribution to the notion of a national health service.
The well attended ceremony was conducted by Mike Atwell, a grandson of one of the directors of the GWR Medical Fund.
