[Single piano figure. Finger clicks.] [NARRATOR] How does a surgeon in a smoky Midland town, Where the furnaces are burning and the factories pound, Look around at those whose failing sight Has left them without hope, without help, without light— And decide that Birmingham can do something more? [Beat] His name was— [ENSEMBLE – quietly] Joseph Hodgson. [NARRATOR] Joseph Hodgson. [ENSEMBLE] Joseph Hodgson. [NARRATOR] Remember the name. [Rhythm begins] It was eighteen-twenty-three, October in the city, Industry was growing, But disease showed little pity. At the General Hospital, A surgeon saw the need: Eyes that needed treatment, People desperate to see. Joseph Hodgson had a plan, Gabriel De Lys beside him, Build a place for diseases of the eye— And Birmingham supplied them With subscriptions and donations, With determination too— [ENSEMBLE] Could they build it? [NARRATOR] They would build it. [ENSEMBLE] Could they do it? [NARRATOR] Watch them do it. [Music kicks harder] April eighteen-twenty-four! Cannon Street! Open the door! The Infirmary for the Cure Of Diseases of the Eye! [ENSEMBLE] Joseph Hodgson! [NARRATOR] One idea— [ENSEMBLE] Joseph Hodgson! [NARRATOR] One beginning— [ENSEMBLE] Joseph Hodgson! [NARRATOR] And two hundred years Of Birmingham seeing! [Instrumental break] [WOMAN] But Birmingham grew— [MAN] And the patients came— [WOMAN] And Cannon Street Could not remain— [MAN] Eighteen-fifty-three— [ENSEMBLE] Move! [MAN] Steelhouse Lane! [WOMAN] Fifteen beds— [MAN] Still not enough! [ENSEMBLE] Then move again! [NARRATOR] Eighteen-sixty-two, Temple Row, Fifty beds, And room to grow. A new name now For a growing city— [ENSEMBLE] Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital! [Music intensifies] [NARRATOR] But the patients kept coming, And the numbers kept climbing, The science kept changing, And the future kept arriving. [WOMAN] So in eighteen-eighty-four— [ENSEMBLE] Church Street! [MAN] A hospital built For the task! [WOMAN] Wards and theatres— [MAN] Waiting rooms— [NARRATOR] And more people coming Than anyone asked! [Layered voices begin] [VOICE 1] Cataract! [VOICE 2] Glaucoma! [VOICE 3] Injury! [VOICE 4] Inflammation! [VOICE 5] Research! [VOICE 6] Teaching! [ALL] Generation after generation! [NARRATOR] Then nineteen-forty-eight— [VOICE] The NHS! [NARRATOR] A different age, A different test. No longer built On charitable subscription, But the same old purpose— [ENSEMBLE] Protecting vision! [Music drops suddenly] [NARRATOR] And still... Church Street. Year after year. Decade after decade. Until— [Drumbeat] Nineteen ninety-six. [Music begins rebuilding] [WOMAN] Pack the instruments. [MAN] Pack the records. [WOMAN] Pack the history. [MAN] Mind the slit-lamp! [ENSEMBLE] Where are we going? [NARRATOR] Dudley Road. [ENSEMBLE] What's it called? [NARRATOR] Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre. [Beat] Or— [ALL] BEE-MEK! [Full orchestra] [NARRATOR] From Cannon Street To Steelhouse Lane, From Temple Row And on again, Through Church Street's doors For a hundred years, Through changing science, Hopes and fears— From candlelight To OCT, From looking glasses To laser beams, Two centuries From one man's schemes— [ENSEMBLE] Joseph Hodgson! [NARRATOR] Could he have imagined this? [ENSEMBLE] Joseph Hodgson! [NARRATOR] Could he have pictured this? [ENSEMBLE] Joseph Hodgson! [NARRATOR] Thousands coming through the doors, From Birmingham and far beyond— [ENSEMBLE] And still we're here! [Music builds into overlapping company] [DOCTORS] Clinics! Theatres! Scans and lasers! [NURSES] Drops and pressures! Charts and patients! [TRAINEES] Teach us! Show us! Let us try! [PATIENTS] Help us! Treat us! Save our sight! [ENSEMBLE] BEE-MEK! BEE-MEK! BEE-MEK! [NARRATOR – over ensemble] It started with a surgeon Who looked around his city And decided failing sight Deserved a place devoted to it. A campaign in October, An infirmary by spring— And two hundred years later Listen to Birmingham sing! [ALL – huge] JOSEPH HODGSON! From eighteen-twenty-four To everything we see today! JOSEPH HODGSON! One small hospital That never stopped Finding its way! [Music stops except piano] [NARRATOR] Two centuries. Thousands of staff. Millions of moments. One purpose. [Beat] Sight. [Full company enters softly] [ALL] Welcome... To bee-mek. [Huge orchestral hit] [Spoken voice from offstage] Next patient, please. [Blackout]
