Brampford Speke, Devon

35 years in Newton St Cyres

We moved into Shuttern Cottage in Pump Street in 1965, long before local developents started. It was quiet then, with little traffic, but the inevitable happened - first Woodlans, then Court Orchard, then lots else, but the atmosphere remained good and things for the good happened. The Recreation Ground in Station Road was set up, a rebuild of the Parish Hall undertaken, improvements to the Church, a Jubilee Fete using West Town and Pump Street - a great occasion resulting in a new village sign on the Green. It was a really happy place with everyone contributing to many activities. The rebuilt Hallis well used, as is the Recreation Gound, both having excellent active committees. Traffic has increased enormously - but where has it not. In 1985 we moved to the top of Pump Steet, rebuilding Ye Olde Cottage and renaming it with its original name of 'Mount Pleasant'. Life continued very happily until 2003 when age caught up on us and we very reluctantly moved to St Marychurch, but we still love and remember the village and its super people.

Happy days at Newton St Cyres

At the moment I am 66 years old. I lived at Newton St Cyres from 1950 to 1952.
My father worked at J. G. Quicke's farm where in 1952 he was unfortunately killed and my mother and I returned to Cornwall. I can still remember going to the school at the top of the hill. Ahh! those were the days.
For anyone reading this who may have lived there at the same time my nickname was Trip. I seem to remember back in those days we used to have scorching hot summers for our summer holidays from school.
A few of the surnames I can remember are Hookway, Manley, Chamberlain, Vickary and possibly Redaway.
I must admit I have many happy memories until my fathers untimely death.

There was always the ghost stories...

In 1973 having just left school that summer, I started my State Registered Nurse training with tutor Miss Wilmot at this Southernhay Hospital.
Being a 'young lady' from Bristol my new colleagues and I were expected to live in the Nurses Home with a larger than life home matron Miss Hermitage. The Nurses Home was behind the hospital between Wynards Lane and Southernhay Gardens where there was an access lane. It was a red brick 4 story building that you could see the back of Southernhay and some of the multi-walkways and verrandas linking the many buildings such as the casualty block to the corridor towards the childrens wards and theatres. I remember being shown around one of the theatres that had a filled in fireplace at an angle in the corner of the room space!
In the Home there was large shared bathing rooms of 6 that you could screen off your bath while bathing. They were the most enormous cast iron white baths that when full of water you could completely dunk down in, and after a shift with the Bedpan Sterilizer in the Sluice, you would want to.
At this time everyone was getting excited about moving to the 'new' Wonford hospital on Barrack Road, sadly already gone and replaced after my time there.
Southernhay was a friendly old place that was missed by everyone who remembers working within the high ceilings, mercury-soaked floors, drafty windows and squeaky dark corridors.
That brings me to the 'Grey Lady', and as a young impressionable trainee scared me, and still does! In those days the staff were friendly but the ward sister was boss and unquestionable when it came to job allocation.
The Night shifts were busy and punctuated by 'rounds' with the Night Sister who wanted 'Name Age and Diagnosis' of every patient at least once each shift. On one of the bottom wards Summerhays we had a quiet night, relatively so, and thats when I heard of the Grey Lady. As you can guess other nurses had other and slightly different tales to tell and be told.
My initiation was on a windy night, adding to the sinister atmosphere, and darkened by the nightlights in the corner of the ward with whispering so the night sister wouldn't hear. The Grey lady was supposed to be a young nurse who having found she was pregnant by her soldier fiance, jumped off the balcony after receiving word of his gruesome death on the battlefield. It was supposed that the wind was her wailing in anguish and falling, and it was said every windy night you may catch a glimpse of her as a grey misty figure floating along the balcony on the upper floors before suddenly dissappearing from site!
Yes, I was spooked and I expect a lot of other people have seen her and after being told their own version. Perhaps you were one of them? My saving grace was Miss Hermitage who was probably used to soothing scared trainees. She wisely said she had never nursed or even heard of anyone being hurt by a ghost, so what was there to worry about! Curiously she didn't deny there was a Grey Lady but I only thought of that after being reassured. Actually the most scarey thing in the old hospital was the Malaysian nurses choice of music. They were needed to boost numbers [even in the 70s] and many were homesick. My neighbour had one vinyl record to play, 'Jingle Bells' that sounded like the Goons 'Yingtong Song' in Chinese, repeated again and again and again. We all used to sing along to cheer her up but it got a little cringeworthy morning noon and night!