大象传媒

WARTIME MEMORIES OF AN OCTOGENERIAN,
As soon as war was declared all the windows were given "blackout",and all electric light bulbs were replaced by blue ones which gave an eerie light along all the corridors.Nurses had to learn to quickly turn down the patients from their beds to UNDERNEATH the beds incase of an air raid.Imagine the grumbles!
Soon we were given heavy gasmasks and told to wear them while at work "to get used to it" but still no airraid sirens were heard.After a time all the patients were either sent home or evacuated to Calderstones(Whalley) and we nurses spent our days preparing plaster bandages,splints of every kind and sterile dressings whilst the wards were silent and full of empty beds.
In the nurses home we saw some changes as ration books were introduced,each nurse was given a small tin for tea,a jar for sugar and a dish for what was an ersatz "butter",these were refilled at weekly intervals and were of very small amounts so I remember giving away my sugar to pals because I had never taken it.
There were then some stranger items that appeared in the dining room,dried eggs,dried milk powder,spam and whale meat which looked a bit like liver but didnt taste too bad when your hungry.We got no casualties so eventually the patients returned and we got back to routine.
My friend and I both had bicycles(no modern gears then just a three speed)but when we got our holidays we literally "got on our bikes" and set off for our homes mine in North Norfolk and hers in Kent.One year to my home the next year to hers.We always arrived and returned safely but the time we were going to Kent the Battle of Briton was at its hieght and the Spitfires were always in dogfights over the Channel and coast.We had travelled through London and down the Old Kent Road and were heading for Tumbridge Wells when we came to the very steep hill that leads down to Sevenoaks.Tall trees overhung each side of the road and as we sped down a hail of bullets met us as a Spitfire flew low firing at a German plane in front.We couldnt stop as we were traveling too fast and how we missed those bullets is still a miracle in my memory.
We got to Paddock Wood and my friends home by 4pm and they told us the German had been brought down close by.
My hospital training days were very happy ones in Blackburn, and when I got my final exam we both joined the Army Nursing Service and left for a Military Hospital,where I was Sister in charge of a Medical Ward and my friend was Sister of a Surgical Ward.
I retired from nursing in 1973 after 31 years service and now aged 85 still attend Blackburn Royal Infirmary as an out patient.Many changes have taken place but some of the old features remain like the main entrance and ground floor,and to me its full of memories of faces I knew so well in a happy comradeship and gratitude to Matron,Sister Tutor and all the Ward and Theatre Sisters who made us able to accept responsibility.

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