Sunshine Home - November 1924
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Dr Ryan laying the foundation stone in 1952.
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The Sunshine Home
NAME Country Air Association/The Sunshine Home/Children's Sunshine Home
AREA LOCATION Brewery Road
GENERAL It started as an idea and a wooden house erected on the South East grounds of Stillorgan Convalescent Home. The home was founded by a number of people including Dr Ella Webb and Letitia Overend. The home was open to children of all denominations from six months to six years of age suffering from rickets. An ultra-violet lamp provided ‘sun’ during winter. This was powered by a gas engine and dynamo and installed by the International Medical and Surgical Supply Company, who built an engine room and installed underground cables to the treatment room. This was presented to the home by Charles Edwin Jacob, chairman of W & R Jacob in 1927. They were one of the eight Dublin hospital/homes that declined to share in the proceeds of the Irish Sweepstakes.* In the first ten years they treated over 500 children with a success rate of over 50%. Charles E Jacob left £400 to the home in his will in 1942. A new home was mooted in 1947 and a grant was application was made to the Government. It is thought that Letitia purchased the site on Leopardstown Road when it came up for sale in 1947. The foundation stone was laid by James (Jim) Ryan, Minister for Health in 1952, however they did not receive a grant as the work was carried out on a voluntary basis. Miss Letitia Overend handed over the deeds of the new site to Henry P Mayne, solicitor, one of the trustees when the foundation stone was laid.
At the AGM of 1955 Kevin O'Higgins stated that there would be always be a need for a well run home in the extended health services and he was sure they would find a use. Dr Catherine O'Brien, CMO said that rickets were now nearly as rare as 'the vapours in Victorian times'. This seems at odds with the fact that the home treated 115 cases in 1954/5 of whom 104 were cured and returned home! In 1955/6 91 children were treated, sent to the home by various Dublin Corporation clinics. However rickets was in decline and by 1961 they were also helping children who were suffering from malnutrition, and children who were celiac. Constantly evolving, by the 1970s they were offering nursery training, and taking in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Today it is a specialised facility, expanding in the 2000s to include the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, providing palliative and residential care for children with life limiting conditions.
YEAR BUILT 1923 to 1925/New home built 1952-1954
Architect Miss Eleanor Grace Butler of R M Butler & Co 1952
STAFF
1923 - 1946 Dr Ella Webb - Pediatrician and Medical director
1926 - 1937 Kathleen Pearson - Matron
1926 - 1927 Blanche Cole - Committee member
1927 - 1953 Earl(s) of Wicklow - Chairman
1946 - 1952 Harriet Reed - Medical Director from 1946
1923 - 1937 Emily Provis - Social worker & HonSec of the Sunshine Home
1925 - 1928 Sir William de Courcy Wheeler - Consultant surgeon
1930 Catherine Moore - secretary
1932 - 1940 Sir Nevile Wilkinson
1932 -1953 William Collis (Collis) Somerville-Large - Committee member
1925 - 1929 Charles Henry Chaytor - Committee member
1923 - 1952 Letitia Overend - Chair and treasurer
1943 - 1952 Miss Noel Bluett - Physiotherapist
CURRENT The Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice Foundation since 2011
STATUS
CONTRIBUTOR © June Bow & Karen Poff
DATE January 2024
* Adelaide Hospital, Rest for the Dying in Camden Street, Monkstown Hospital, Dr Steeven's Hospital, Orthopaedic Hospital, Drumcondra Hospital and Stillorgan Convalescent Home.
AREA LOCATION Brewery Road
GENERAL It started as an idea and a wooden house erected on the South East grounds of Stillorgan Convalescent Home. The home was founded by a number of people including Dr Ella Webb and Letitia Overend. The home was open to children of all denominations from six months to six years of age suffering from rickets. An ultra-violet lamp provided ‘sun’ during winter. This was powered by a gas engine and dynamo and installed by the International Medical and Surgical Supply Company, who built an engine room and installed underground cables to the treatment room. This was presented to the home by Charles Edwin Jacob, chairman of W & R Jacob in 1927. They were one of the eight Dublin hospital/homes that declined to share in the proceeds of the Irish Sweepstakes.* In the first ten years they treated over 500 children with a success rate of over 50%. Charles E Jacob left £400 to the home in his will in 1942. A new home was mooted in 1947 and a grant was application was made to the Government. It is thought that Letitia purchased the site on Leopardstown Road when it came up for sale in 1947. The foundation stone was laid by James (Jim) Ryan, Minister for Health in 1952, however they did not receive a grant as the work was carried out on a voluntary basis. Miss Letitia Overend handed over the deeds of the new site to Henry P Mayne, solicitor, one of the trustees when the foundation stone was laid.
At the AGM of 1955 Kevin O'Higgins stated that there would be always be a need for a well run home in the extended health services and he was sure they would find a use. Dr Catherine O'Brien, CMO said that rickets were now nearly as rare as 'the vapours in Victorian times'. This seems at odds with the fact that the home treated 115 cases in 1954/5 of whom 104 were cured and returned home! In 1955/6 91 children were treated, sent to the home by various Dublin Corporation clinics. However rickets was in decline and by 1961 they were also helping children who were suffering from malnutrition, and children who were celiac. Constantly evolving, by the 1970s they were offering nursery training, and taking in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Today it is a specialised facility, expanding in the 2000s to include the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, providing palliative and residential care for children with life limiting conditions.
YEAR BUILT 1923 to 1925/New home built 1952-1954
Architect Miss Eleanor Grace Butler of R M Butler & Co 1952
STAFF
1923 - 1946 Dr Ella Webb - Pediatrician and Medical director
1926 - 1937 Kathleen Pearson - Matron
1926 - 1927 Blanche Cole - Committee member
1927 - 1953 Earl(s) of Wicklow - Chairman
1946 - 1952 Harriet Reed - Medical Director from 1946
1923 - 1937 Emily Provis - Social worker & HonSec of the Sunshine Home
1925 - 1928 Sir William de Courcy Wheeler - Consultant surgeon
1930 Catherine Moore - secretary
1932 - 1940 Sir Nevile Wilkinson
1932 -1953 William Collis (Collis) Somerville-Large - Committee member
1925 - 1929 Charles Henry Chaytor - Committee member
1923 - 1952 Letitia Overend - Chair and treasurer
1943 - 1952 Miss Noel Bluett - Physiotherapist
CURRENT The Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice Foundation since 2011
STATUS
CONTRIBUTOR © June Bow & Karen Poff
DATE January 2024
* Adelaide Hospital, Rest for the Dying in Camden Street, Monkstown Hospital, Dr Steeven's Hospital, Orthopaedic Hospital, Drumcondra Hospital and Stillorgan Convalescent Home.