Mellor Brook, c1955

Living there

As a young boy I used to stay at my aunt's house in Commons Lane. It may well be the house pictured? During summer school hols my brother Ken and I were often taken by our 'mam' on the Ribble bus to Mellor Brook, from where we had to walk to get to auntie's house, probably about 3 to 4 miles. The whole outing was someting of an adventure as often we were accompanied by mam's friend(s) and their offspring.
In good weather we could run ahead and play in a small wood until the grown ups caught up. If we were only going for the day the time sped by and the reverse journey could be tiring, and we were glad to reach the Millstone pub to wait for the bus. Lemonade outside for us kids and stronger stuff, inside, for the grownups.
If Ken and I were to stay for a few days this was great, there were some lads, the Kelsalls, and they showed us much of the surrounding district incl. the Horseshoe Bend and lots of other intersting places. Our cousins Barbara and Pauline Smith were friends of the Kelsalls and we went around as a group.
Later in life I used to cycle from Blackburn to spend happy days at Balderstone. My aunt and uncle are long gone, cousin Pauline lives at Mellor, Barbara is at Blackburn, Ken is also at Blackburn, I live near Wigan.

Nurse Training

I started my SRN training in 1973. In those days the Nurses' Home still exsisted but the view was obscured by the more recent additional buildings to the Infirmary, which included the Education Centre. However the Home was still well used. Some nurses still 'lived in' in this building but we all used the building too. We all had lockers in a room in the basement there. When we went on duty we kept our gaberdines and bags in our lockers where we also stored our clean uniform. We had to wear clean uniforms every day so dirty laundry was put into laundry bags, also kept in the locker and sent off to the laundry on our given laundry day. When we worked on night duty, which was quite often then, we had to congregate in the Sitting Room and be told which ward we were to work on. In the main corridor down near our locker room there were information boards where we found the 'Change Lists'. These lists told us when we were to change to another ward. We usually worked for about eight weeks on a ward then would move to a different ward and specialty to gain new experience. Also our 'Block' exam results were posted here too. No secrets!
To enter the building you could either use its main front door or go through one of the infirmary corridors. I usually went through the main door as it was an additional walk to go through the A&E entrance and round the infirmary corridors. One day the heavens opened shortly after I had left home to walk to work. There was nowhere to shelter so I just walked as quickly as I could. On reaching the small driveway to the main doors a porter told me that I couldn't use that entrance as there was a huge puddle infront of the doors. I ignored him and waded through it. I was already soaked and couldn't have got any wetter than I already was. He must have thought I was crackers. I was so wet that even my dress under the gaberdine was soaked. When I put my apron on it stuck to the wet dress. When I arrived on 'my' ward I was sent to the sewing room for another dress and apron. I was also lent a pair of shoes by someone but they were two sizes too big! All in a day's work as they say!
Sadly the Nurse's Home was demolished way back in early 1980 to make way for the then new A&E department. Even sadder is that the whole Infirmary complex has recently been demolished.

Shopping days

This photo is as I remember Church St when I was a little girl. I had three younger brothers and when Mother took us to town she often went into Woolworths. We were told that if we became lost we had to find the weighing machine. It was huge and stood near the doors. She said that if we waited there she would find us. I don't remember any of us ever getting lost in the store. We also were taken to the toilets facing Woolworths doors, which can also be seen in this photo. It was always fascinating having to go down below ground level to the toilets. It is so sad that it is all in the past now.

Infirmary Memories

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

School Speech Days

When I was a pupil at 'Blackburn High School for Girls' we used to go to Blackburn Cathedral for the morning sevice on Speech Day. In those days the Cathedral was dark and dismal with masses of dark wood and lots of box pews. I particularly remember walking over what I believed were graves - scary to an eleven year old! We always sang the hymn 'Now Thank We All Our God' and I always associate that hymn with the Cathedral. The modernised, light and airy Cathedral is a joy to visit and bears no resemblance to the Cathedral of my schooldays. I was so delighted to find your photos of the 'old' Cathedral's interior looking more like my memories to show to my children.