Great British Bake Off star Mary Berry visited Bath RUH today to open the new Friends of the RUH coffee shop.
Mrs Berry grew up in Bath and her mother Marjorie was the founding chairwoman of the friends back in 1957.
She was given a tour of the new coffee shop, funded by the friends, charitable trusts and legacies, as well as a new sensory garden in Combe Ward.
For nearly sixty years the friends have provided a coffee shop where patients, visitors and staff can meet and enjoy refreshments.
Until two years ago, the coffee shop was housed in a conservatory-style extension, but this began leaking and a temporary shop was set up.
Now volunteers from the friends will be able to serve tasty snacks and hot beverages in a light, airy, and purpose-built space.
Mrs Berry, who has just finished filming the Great British Bake Off final, also visited a shop run by the friends at the entrance to the hospital.
She said she was impressed with the shop, and it had "all the right things" for anyone who comes to the hospital in an emergency.
She said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed today. It's quite amazing what has happened to the RUH since I was last here, and so much is done by the volunteers that's quite amazing in so many ways.
"Many years ago I had polio and I was in the orthopaedic hospital, and things were very different- we didn't have beautiful gardens. In all weathers I was wheeled out, and it was freezing. Things have changed and there's a lovely warm feeling here.
"I know that mum, right until 105, she was determined to come to the AGM meetings. She was immensely proud of the work done, and she did end her days here, and she was spoilt rotten."
The hospital's sensory garden in Combe Ward was built at the same time as the coffee shop and the two are separated by a fence, keeping the garden private.
Ward manager Jon Willis showed Mrs Berry round Combe Ward, which is a dementia-friendly ward.
He said: "The garden has altered the feel of the ward, people come and they say it feels calm, it feels tranquil and welcoming, and it wasn't like that before.
"She's lovely (Mary Berry) she knows her plants, she was going through each individual plant. She's been fantastic, it's been a real pleasure."
Mrs Berry went to the Royal High School, Bath. Her father Alleyne William Steward Berry served as mayor in 1952, and she is only the second woman in history to be given Freedom of the City of Bath.
Ward clerk Lyn Heatley said: "My daughter is going to be gobsmacked, she loves Bake Off, we all like the Bake Off. I said if she got the wrong decision (in the final) it might be different, but she got the right decision. She's a very nice lady."
The friends have 400 members and there can be up to 50 volunteers working in the hospital on any one day.
Barbara Webber, chairwoman of the Friends of the RUH, said: "We wanted the coffee shop to be a peaceful place. Somewhere that was quiet, where patients and staff can relax, get away from it, meet their friends and have some delicious refreshments."
Volunteers will begin serving at the coffee shop on October 20. It will be open from Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.
The friends would like to open the coffee shop for longer and are looking for more volunteers to help in the shop.
To get in touch ring (01225) 824046.
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