A HOSPITAL which served a North-East community for more than 60 years is finally being demolished.

Sedgefield Community Hospital was built as an emergency military hospital in 1941 and was expected to have a working life of ten years.

But the hospital, little more than prefabricated huts, remained open until July last year when patients and staff transferred to a purpose-built replacement facility on the edge of the village.

Thompsons of Prudhoe has now moved on to the site to pull down the old hospital.

The first stage of the £200,000 contract is the removal of asbestos, which accounts for the majority of the work.

It will take 16 weeks to take the five-acre site down to ground level, in readiness for possible sale for re-development.

Elsewhere in Sedgefield, another team from the earthworks side of the business is stabilising a 250-metre stretch of railway embankment.

A spokesman for Sedgefield Primary Care Trust said: "This is another memorable occasion for the people of Sedgefield after the initial opening of a new community hospital over a year ago.

"Local people had waited a long time for the new hospital and since its grand opening last July, about 13,000 patients have passed through its doors to use the many facilities which the new hospital provides."

The old hospital was originally built to care for casualties evacuated from Dunkirk during the Second World War, but provided care to local people for much longer.

Fond memories and stories of the hospital are recalled by former staff and patients in a new book compiled by Sedgefield author Bob Abley, who is a former hospital employee.