Salvaged bricks from Cowra’s former hospital will be available to purchase at the Cowra Community Markets, with proceeds supporting equipment and services for local cancer patients. Bricks from Cowra’s former hospital are set to find new homes across the community, with their sale raising funds for the Cowra and District Cancer Action Group. The group will offer salvaged red and yellow bricks for $10 each at the Cowra Markets on Saturday, 21 November, giving residents an opportunity to keep a tangible piece of the town’s history while supporting local patients. Group representative Jean Sandberg said the bricks had been made available through the hospital redevelopment process, with the redevelopment team supportive of the group’s work. The group has secured 130 cleaned yellow bricks, 90 cleaned red bricks and a further 130 uncleaned bricks. “There are a lot of people that do want them,” Ms Sandberg said. Several local people have already expressed interest in purchasing the bricks, particularly those with personal connections to the former hospital. For some, the bricks represent a place where they or their children were born, while others may simply want a memento of a building that played an important role in the community. Ms Sandberg said she could imagine people displaying a brick at home as a sentimental keepsake, while others might find a practical use for the solid, heavy bricks. The red bricks may have come from the former nurses’ accommodation, although Ms Sandberg said this would need to be confirmed. The sale also provides an opportunity to support the work of the Cowra and District Cancer Action Group, which has been raising funds for local health services since 1998. Established by local women who recognised a need for better support for cancer patients, the group has worked for decades to provide equipment and improve care for people undergoing treatment. Their focus is supporting the hospital’s chemotherapy unit, as well as quality and palliative care services in the community. Ms Sandberg said the group had supplied substantial equipment over the years, with the value of its contributions estimated at more than $400,000 and potentially reaching $600,000. The group is currently fundraising for additional equipment, including a specialised chair for palliative care patients that would allow them to be taken outdoors when appropriate. Portable oxygen concentrators are also among the equipment being considered, alongside other items identified as necessary for patient care. The group has also recently supplied two new portable beds for use in the community, recognising that standard hospital beds cannot always fit through doorways in private homes. Ms Sandberg said the group worked closely with hospital staff to identify equipment needs and ensure fundraising translated into practical support for patients. “We knew when the new hospital opened that there were things that were needed,” she said. The brick sale is one of several fundraising activities supporting the group’s ongoing work. The hospital redevelopment has provided an unexpected opportunity to turn materials from the former building into something that could benefit both the community and future patients. For residents who watched the old hospital being demolished, the bricks offer a way to preserve a physical connection to the site while contributing to the future of local healthcare. With interest already building, the group is encouraging people hoping to secure a brick to visit their stall at the Cowra Markets on the third Saturday of November. The bricks would be available for direct purchase at the market, with the group planning to bring them along on a trailer. The sale will give the bricks a second life while helping the group continue its long-standing commitment to supporting cancer patients and their families across the Cowra district.
