[NV022] : Rachel at St George's


Rachel Click photo to read and listen to her story

Rachel was born in May 1932 in Birmingham. Her Mother had been a nurse and although Rachel was interested in nursing as a career she wished to experiment with other careers before committing herself. Therefore on leaving school at sixteen she worked briefly in an art studio, and then worked for several years doing rubber research for a chemical company.

Rachel’s interest in the work of the Church Missionary Society led her back to nursing, as she realised a nursing qualification would be useful if she wished to work abroad as a missionary. The society was able to put her in touch with Matron Muriel Powell at St. George’s.

In January 1955, after an exhaustive interview, Rachel began at St. George’s. She left her family and Church in Birmingham and moved into Cumberland House nurses home in Earls Court Square, in preparation for Preliminary Training School.

PTS involved mainly classroom based study, but once this section of training was over Rachel was put straight on to the wards at Atkinson Morley Hospital, where she dealt with patients who had undergone early Neurosurgery, and worked on the Psychiatric ward, which proved to be the only area of nursing she found she ‘didn’t click with’.

From Atkinson Morley Rachel moved to Tooting and then to Hyde Park Corner and back and forth several times. She estimates that she moved over 20 times throughout her training.

Rachel has fond memories of the other students in her set and of the various nurses homes they all lived in. She even has photographs taken from the window of every different bedroom she was given.

After her training Rachel began work as a Staff nurse on William King, a male medical ward. She enjoyed her time there very much, and is particularly proud of the respect and level of care shown to a homeless man brought in in a very bad state. She recalls that whatever a persons status at St George’s they were offered the same level of care. She also recalls the hard work involved in combating the outbreak of Asian Flu in the hospital.

Having qualified and worked as a Staff Nurse Rachel decided to take her Midwifery qualification, as she realised it would be a useful skill for working abroad with the Missionary Society. She therefore headed off to Cardiff to begin her Midwifery training.

Rachel qualified as a Midwife and then returned to London to do six months on St George’s Maternity ward to consolidate her training. After this brief return to St George’s she left to attend the Church Missionary Society College in Kent, and then left Britain for Kenya, where she did invaluable work as a Midwife and Nursing teacher just outside Mombassa.

To read & listen to Rachel's experiences whilst at St George's please click on Rachel's Story