Infirmary Memories

A Memory of Blackburn.

My first memory of the Infirmary is when I was four years old. I had my tonsils and adenoids removed because I was very, very deaf. After the operation I could hear but it would be many years before I learned that I only had hearing in one ear. When I was six I had another operation to remove a tumour from my neck. It was a long procedure and I was an in-patient for six weeks. I had my seventh birthday while I was there! At that time the 'New Wing' had not been built and we children used to play outside. There was a large grass slope which we used to roll down and have great fun. At the age of nine I fell over and broke my leg requiring a plaster cast for six weeks. I refused to walk with it and my mother shortened the long brush to make me a crutch - no wonder she had a bad back having to use this shorter brush to sweep up!

When I grew up I trained to be a State Registered Nurse. Most of my training was at the Infirmary although it was then the Blackburn District Training School and some of the training involved other local hospitals. I continued my career by becoming a State Certified Midwife - training at Queen's Park Hospital in Blackburn - and also going to Manchester to complete a training course to be a Registered Sick Children's Nurse. I have spent many happy years in the Nursing profession and am now working only a few hours a week in my retirement. Incidentally I was one of the first NHS babies being born on July 7th 1948