Oldchurch Hospital 1956 57

A Memory of Romford.

I have such memories as a 17 year old of working in the 'Admins Office' in Oldchurch Hospital. I think I just walked in one day, got an interview and started on the Monday - no job centres or CVs needed then. The boss was Mr Totts and Mr Izzard and Mr Jarvis were his under colleagues. I used to have to walk across every morning to the Matron's office to collect the personal belongings of anyone who had passed away the previous day, which were then collected by relations at our office some time later. I remember there were relatives coming in on a regular basis to collect the belongings of a small child that had died of leukaemia. It seemed to be rife in those days. I also recall a young man coming in to the office one day looking for a position. his name was Colin and he was very keen on cycling and I think he had served in Korea. He had a start there and then. You could walk from one job to another in those days! Those were the days of the dreaded smog and often we had to catch the early bus home complete with conductor and flaming torch leading the way. Lunch time was great as it was spent in a separate building which had a snooker table, piano (if Paul ever reads this, thankyou for your honky tonk music at lunchtime), easy chairs and radio. If you got the highest break on the snooker you won half a crown! The one thing that sticks in my mind is the extreme cleanliness of all the wards, they employed domestics in those days and boy, were they conscientious. NHS take note.
Good and Sad Memories.
Glyn Mallett