Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital Sandy Point

A Memory of Hayling Island.

At the age of 12 I was a patient at Treloars in Alton, having been diagnosed as having TB knee - a clout with a cricket ball was a little more serious than just a swollen knee, and I was sent to Treloars in Alton. All the patients there at that time were in for the long haul - polio, TB in various bones, rheumatoid arthritis and other orthopaedic problems. I was required to lie flat on my back, and eventually I was encased in plaster of paris from chest to left foot to make sure I lay flat!

While in this state I was taken with others to the small hospital at Sandy Point - just two wards, and we were all under the age of eighteen.It was right on the pebbly beach
overlooking the sea, we spent fine days outside in the fresh air - whatever the weather, apart from wet weather. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was celebrated by being allowed to sleep outside as a treat, in order to see in the distance the Fleet Review lit up in the Solent. No TV at the hospital but we were able to see a colour film of the coronation day celebrations a few days later.

Visiting hours was once a week, on a Sunday afternoon, but my family could only visit once a fortnight - if they could borrow my grandfather's car for the trip. With two little brothers at home, four people could hardly fit on one motorbike! Few of us had visitors every week, but most of us had letters and parcels to look forward to instead.

The staff were all so friendly, it was like a family - Sister Owen was such a gentle quiet soul and so caring. We had lessons to keep our brains ticking over - Mrs Booth was the teacher I remember most. The three male porters lived locally, and we were all treated like their granddaughters. One had a small sailing dinghy, and would go sailing on Sundays, so we would wait for him to sail by and wave and whistle at him. Nursing staff and ancillary staff were all such a caring lot, except when it was senna pod day - because we were all bed bound, we were "treated" to tea with senna in to help our bowels - three patients at a time each day. We all kept count to see who was next!

My mother picked up a large fir cone in the grounds one day and took it home as a reminder - it is presently sitting in a bowl in my kitchen (minus the seeds) with other cones collected from different parts of the UK over the years.

I spent just over a year at Sandy Point, going home again just in time for Christmas 1953. Wearing a caliper and boot on my left leg, I soon got used to it and before long I was riding a bike, playing cricket again and going on holiday to the Lake District with my class at school - I was one of the luckier patients in those days.

I often wonder what became of some of those girls and boys. I did come across a Kathleen Dewsnap in 1967 on a flight from Singapore to Uk - we were all RN and RAF and Army families returning home.

Heather Tierney (nee Vaughan)