Banstead Village

Army personnel Xmas lunch at Banstead Wood

Xmas Lunch in 1942

The note says:
Princess Elizabeth Of York Hospital, Banstead Wood
Annexe of Sutton Emergency at Belmont until Spring 1946.

Text courtesy of Historic England where a photo of the building is available:

The Princess Elizabeth of York Hospital site in Banstead Wood was labelled the first “Country Hospital for Town Children”, with the rural environment thought to be beneficial to children from inner city areas.

It was intended for in-patients to be transferred to the hospital at Banstead Wood, while an out-patient department and clearing station would be maintained in Shadwell, where a children’s hospital had first been established in the 1860s.

The foundation stone was laid in 1936, but by 1939 only half of the hospital had been built.

During the Second World War the site became an emergency military hospital and military camp, later a prisoner of war camp.

In July 1948 the hospital was officially opened as a country branch of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in London.