大象传媒

At 18 I had started my nurses training, and was 19 when war broke out on September 3rd, and was on night duty at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital at St.Mary鈥檚 Parade in the middle of the town, now a shopping arcade, and I remember vividly Night Sister, Miss Hicks, saying to us 鈥淚f we have to go, we have to go鈥�. We were terrified of the unknown, and life was very sweet, we didn鈥檛 want to die.
Emergency Hospitals had been set up and one of these was Hodnet Hall, Hodnet, Shropshire, and I was sent out to Hodnet for a period of six weeks. Hodnet took patients from the Birmingham hospitals, the General and Queen Elizabeth, in order to keep the City hospitals free in case of air raid casualties. The patients were all brought in by bus following operations, and stayed with us for about six weeks recovering. Visiting must have been very difficult for their families, and although I remember patients arriving, I never seem to remember them going home again!
Following my General Training, I went on to train as a Midwife at the Birmingham Maternity Hospital where I did my Part 1, but on my first day was sent to Barnes Green, another big house used for Mothers and Babies for their 鈥楲ying in Period鈥�, some times we had lectures at Barnes Green, but sometimes had to go in to the main hospital.
Part 2 of my training was in North London, Middleton Square, at the Royal Northern Hospital and whilst I was there we were sent to Loughborough to Lord Crawshaw鈥檚 residence where expectant mothers were sent from the London area, it was a beautiful place, and the mothers lived in the grounds and then came into the main house to have their babies. We had a wonderful matron, Miss Tindal, and we coped with so many different situations.
I returned to work at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as a Midwife were we had eight maternity beds and our Matron, Miss Evans, had done her training at St Thomas鈥檚 Hospital, London, and I then returned to London as a Night Sister to work at St Thomas鈥檚 Maternity department, but it was evacuated to Woking, Surrey, to Ashwood House, where mothers came waiting for their babies to arrive and once in established labour, they had to walk over to the delivery suits! We 鈥榮crubbed鈥� for Caesarean Sections and I had some marvellous experience and at the end of the war I went back to St. Thomas鈥檚 as a District nurse, and rode a bicycle round London and finally worked in Leamington Spar.
I had a lucky war and survived it unscathed! I remember going into the shelters some nights when the bombing was really bad, and rationing was sufficient, we had to collect our rations every week, and each person had a little cupboard to keep them in but we were well looked after though we worked long hard hours. Time and memories fade but I still go to Hospital Reunions, though the numbers attending, of my era, are decreasing.

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