Clinical decisions were needed in the Bletchley of 1950, with negotiations being held for a new I physiotherapy unit.

Currently situated in Victoria Road, it was hoped that a new location could be found near Wilton Avenue which, as it happened, wasn't off the mark!

For a much needed headquarters, a lack of finance was hampering the optimism of the Bletchley Nursing Division and Ambulance Brigade although the county council was toying with an idea for building an ambulance station, at the corner of Bletchley Road and Leon Avenue.

One who had long been associated with the Bletchley Nursing Division was Mrs E Vaughan, of Bedford Street, who - in recognition of her 20 years as Superintendent - was proudly presented with a miniature insignia of the St Johns nursing badge.

Sadly, after 25 years of service, Nurse Rawley died aged 71 and the position as district nurse was filled by Nurse Stockham who came from Somerset but her new home was 87 Manor Road.

From nurses to doctors and amongst the several names from the past were those of Dr Kelland, of 54 High Street, who in the 1920s made over his practice in Bletchley and Fennv Stratford to Dr Kelman Smith.

Also in the High Street the Red House came up for auction in 1924, having at one time been occupied by Dr Deyns.

His son; Lt Col Deyns, then took over the practice and his partner, Dr Nicholson, continued at the Red House when the Lt Col later moved to The Gables in Bletchley Road.

At the time of the auction, however, the Red House was offered with vacant possession, except the two rooms (with separate entrance) which had been used as the doctor's surgery and subsequently as offices for Mr E Thornley and his successor, the solicitor, Mr Ernest Marchant. As for the Lt Col, apart from medical duties, he was also active as JP and at one time chairman of Bletchley Gas Company and Bletchley Council. Possibly these proved lucrative positions in view of the £50,115 he left when he died, aged 87, on January 27.

Another well known doctor in the town was Dr Edgar Carter, of the Red House. Originally a surgeon at Leeds Women's Hospital, he there met his wife, Kathleen, a nurse and the couple were married in 1913.

After running a practice in Cambridge in 1927, taking over from Dr Nicholson, Dr and Mrs Carter then moved to the Red House in Fenny Stratford where, at the back of the house, Nurse Curtois, who had travelled with them from Cambridge, opened a nursing home. Here, during the war Mrs Carter played an active role.

Their daughter, Katherine, trained to be a SRN at St Bartholemews Hospital and during this time she met her future husband, the acting Squadron Leader of an RAF hospital.

The couple were married with a reception at the Red House, in a marquee set up in the grounds. Dr Carter retired two years later and leaving the practice in the hands of his son, he and his wife then moved back to Cambridge. With distant echoes of Dr Gent, more than a century before, so continued the long association of the Red House with the medical profession which ended only in recent times, when the practice moved to Bletchley Road.

The years may have rolled on but despite scientific advances -and the ailments of the present health service - the fact remains a doctor with time for his patients and an understanding in his approach, is a tonic still as welcome as any medicines prescribed.