Kennford, Haldon Chalet Cafe c1935

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!

Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers entertain at Chudleigh

Chudleigh hosts a wonderful Christmas late night shopping evening each year when the Christmas lights in Fore Street are switched on. The shops stay open until late evening and their windows twinkle with fairy lights and decorations. Shops, cafes and pubs are crowded and stay open late in the evening, and the place is transformed into a fairyland of old-fashioned entertainment and street traders.  

The Heather and Gorse Clog Morris Dancers and went along to provide part of this entertainment and I played my piano accordian in the band and my wife Elizabeth was one of the team of dancers. We took our one-year old granddaughter Anna in a puchchair and made sure she was well wrapped up to keep warm! We had a big band of squeezeboxes and drums. The dancers looked magnificent in their smart kit of black waistcoats, bright blue skirts and shiny black wooden clogs as they danced six times during almost an hour long performance. The best spot to play and dance is the wide road in front of Kingsley House. Handy for a traditional glass of mulled wine or a beer for any thirsty performers!

Nearby there were other entertainers singing Christmas carols so it was a truly lovely evening. We have lovely memories of this traditional entertainment and hope that not only do the Christmas shopping evenings continue to thrive but that the local support for both the shops and the performers continues too as we had a great time dancing and playing music. Our granddaughter loved the twinkling lights and was fascinated by the music and dancing in the streets.