[NV016] : Winifred at St George's 1934-50 |
Winifred, who prefers to be known as Steve, was born in January 1910, in London. In 1913, upon the death of her Mother, Steve moved with her Father and brother and sisters to Croydon. Steve remembers living in a 'lovely family home' until 1917, when her Father died. From this point on Steve lived at Boarding school, in Birmingham, and was occasionally looked after by Aunts and other relatives.
In 1926, at 16 years old Steve had to leave school and go out into the world. She decided to train to be a Nanny, and so moved down to Hampstead to train. She worked as a Nanny and in various jobs, until she decided to increase her skills and train to be a fully qualified nurse.
In April 1934 Steve began her training at St Georges. She had 6 weeks training in school with two Sister Tutors, and then was sent into the wards, to learn as she went. Steve vividly remembers being terrified of giving injections, and being even more terrified of her Sister on her first ward!
Despite a busy working schedule full of patient care and heavy domestic work, Steve remembers having leisure time enough to meet her boyfriend, with her fellow nurses, and go out socialising in Harrods and attending concerts in Piccadilly Circus.
Steve qualified in 1937 and worked as a covering Staff Nurse, and then as Sister Housekeeper; in this job Steve had very little contact with patients, but was responsible for overseeing the domestic running of the wards, particularly the kitchens and serving of meals.
Steve left her Sister Housekeeper job and began to work within St Georges private nursing system, she was sent out to the homes of various private patients; shortly after she began this work however, the Second World War broke out.
Throughout the war years Steve worked in a makeshift casualty ward at Hyde Park Corner, here she saw many horrific injuries, and even had to treat injured fellow nurses. Despite the difficult work, Steve and her colleagues kept each others spirits up, and felt useful and worthwhile.
When the war ended Steve returned to her work as a private nurse, via St Georges. She continued this work until 1950, when she left St Georges and relocated to Leatherhead. She remained working as a Staff Nurse, not wanting to move into a Sister role, at Leatherhead Hospital until her retirement, aged 60, in 1970.
To read & listen to Winifred's experiences whilst at St George's please click on Winifred's Story