More memories!!

The weekend in Worcester brought back memories of my first staff nurse post on the children's surgical and orthopaedic ward in 1966. My friend, another staff nurse, had been given a camera for her 21st birthday and this was one of the first picture she took. It has always been a firm favourite of mine.

The playroom that we are in was part of the ward and the building that you can see through the window was the nurses home, both have been demolished.

Life in hospital as a child in those days was difficult. Visiting was very restricted, 30 minutes in the evening during the week and an hour in the afternoon on a Saturday and Sunday, so children saw very little of their parents. I hate to think of how the parents felt. We worked a 48 hour week, so were there a great deal of the time.

We, as nurses, developed a very close relationship with the children, especially those who stayed with us for long periods of time. I remember the ward being a happy, noisy, busy place, I loved working there, it was hard work, and there were tears at times, but mostly we had fun, the kids adopted us as "Mum" on a temporary basis and taught us a great deal about coping with adversity.

I met the little boy in the picture several years later on the racecourse across the road from the hospital. I didn't recognise him, the blond curls had gone and he was about 5 years old. He offered me some of his candy floss, said "thank you" and gave me a kiss and a big hug. It wasn't until I saw his parents that I recognised who he was. It was one of those "fuzzy feeling" occasions, with an added sense of pride that I had contributed to his recovery.