Patient And Later Staff Nurse At The Old Cottage Hospital

A Memory of Beckenham.

In the late 1940s as a child I used to play in the park along side the hospital and remember very young cutting my foot in the paddling pool. A child who was playing with me ( we had no adults with us ) insisted on taking me to the Casualty Dept were I recall they kept asking me if I had had my tetanus injection whilst they cleaned me up. Vandalism meant someone had thrown a bottle in the pool. It is amazing that our parents were happy for 2 children under 10 were allowed to play unaccompanied in a park.

In 1965 I had finished my midwifery course at Beckenham Maternity hospital at Stone Park and had some months to fill in before joining the QARANCs ( Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps).
I applied for a temporary vacant post and was appointed to Night duties on an Elderly Female ward. There was a lot of hard physical work, turning, lifting, washing and caring for these very vulnerable patients every 1 hour, moving round the beds in the ward throughout the night. I had no trouble sleeping during the day as I was exhausted . On 2 other wards were 2 New Zealand nurses who were working around UK taking 2-3 months work then taking themselves a camping on the continent for a while before returning for more work. They were excellent Nurses.

Pat (nee Finn )