Stamford Hospital's 57-year Christmas card mystery Published duration 8 December 2017

image copyright North West Anglia Trust image caption The card is addressed to nursing staff

A "grateful" former patient has sent hospital staff an anonymous Christmas card every year since 1960.

Stamford Hospital in Lincolnshire said the card appeared "every year without fail" on the matron's desk, with the same message of thanks.

It is addressed to nursing staff at the now disused Exeter Ward and has a postal mark for the South East Anglia Mail Centre in Chelmsford, Essex.

Hospital matron Sue Brooks said it had been a "great mystery" for 57 years.

"It would be great to find who is still so grateful after all these years," she said.

image copyright North West Anglia Trust image caption The patient, who was treated at the now disused Exeter Ward, sends the card every year

image copyright North West Anglia Trust image caption It has a postal mark for the South East Anglia Mail Centre in Chelmsford, Essex

She added staff were eager to find the mystery sender so "they too can say thank you and Merry Christmas".

The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust said the "once busy" Exeter Ward was an all-male ward, so staff know the patient is a male.

In the card, he said he was a "grateful" patient in 1960 and was "still going strong".

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image copyright J P Gandy/Geograph image caption The card has been sent to Stamford Hospital every year since 1960