Every picture tells a story on the walls of the Welcome Cuppa coffee shop at St Luke’s Hospital.

Relics of life at the hospital throughout the years are proudly displayed in the little establishment which can be found in the grounds of the Little Horton complex.

The latest addition to the cafe, which is run by the hospital’s volunteers, the Friends of St Luke’s, is a large framed fabric with the embroidered signatures of about 40 staff who worked at the neighbouring Westwood Hospital during the Second World War.

It was donated by Pauline Wanley, who found the cloth with her sister Lizzie Lindstrom, when going through her mother Connie Betts’ possessions following her death last November at the age of 91.

Connie had served as a nurse at St Luke’s, after training there in 1940, later working at Calverley Hospital as a senior night sister before retiring from the NHS in 1980.

Pauline, who herself recently retired from the Bradford Royal infirmary where she worked as a financial accountant, said: “My mum started her training at St Luke’s in 1940 but we do not have any recollection of her mentioning that she worked at Westwood Hospital or did any mental health nursing.

“While she was still alive mum talked about the other piece of framed cloth at the Welcome Cuppa which included more than 100 signatures of the nurses she trained with at St Luke’s in 1940 as in those days it seems that was what they did – I suppose it was their version of an autograph book.

“Unfortunately we’ve no idea why she had the Westwood cloth so it should act as a lesson to everyone out there to remember to ask your relatives about their past while they are still here, as once they are gone, it is lost forever.”

Friends of St Luke’s Hospital chairman, Barbara Cawood, has placed the cloth donated by Connie’s family in a frame next to the one from St Luke’s which hung in the hospital’s old dining room before it was demolished.

Barbara hailed the latest addition to the wall display as “unique” and said the framed embroidery on the walls of the cafe generate much comment and local interest.

She added: “The cafe is a little bit of St Luke’s history and it is important that people have the opportunity of seeing the hospital in its historical context as it has served the city’s community well over the years.”

The Welcome Cuppa is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm.

The Friends of St Luke’s are always on the look-out for more volunteers so if you have time to spare call Chris Heaton on (01274) 364309.