SchoolsofNursing.co.uk

Site News
April 2010
(Vol 4 Issue 2) 

Register/sign in REGISTRATION IS NOT YET REQUIRED. VISITORS ARE WELCOME.
THE SEARCH FACILITY IS ABOVE. YOU CAN ALSO FIND PARTICULAR
 SCHOOLS USING '
REGION' LINK BELOW.
Home Schools Region  Forum  Collecting  Galleries History  Bibliography  News Archive  Contact
 
Welcome to our fourteenth news page here at Schools of Nursing.
Once again chasing my own tail and attempting to catch up on a vast amount of time apparently lost since the last news page. I say apparently because there hasn't really been a spare minute to catch up with anything! Onward...

First a first! Missing Badges.
A missing badge located within 24 hours of our standard advice being received by email. Well, being received and followed. Ruth Coulter sought our assistance to locate a replacement for her missing badge. Much to our surprise she responded shortly after our email to tell us  -  '
I thought I’d let you know that, thanks to your brilliant advice I’ve tracked down a replacement badge! In only 24hrs too!! Surely that’s a record! I’m also inspired to start my own collection after trawling through many sites showing some superb collections'. However, Ruth admitted that she had enlisted the help of her mother and sister too. And gave us permission to publish her success. Well done Ruth.

But then we were contacted by another searcher - a nurse's husband who said that he was not 'computer friendly'. Flush with the first success I offered to follow our own advice for him, which I am now doing - but I can already report that it isn't quite as easy as it looks. I am definitely not going to be within the 24 hour record, but I am repeating (constantly) our forum moderator's (backman) advice - persistence and perseverance. That seems to be the hardest part...

We have had several other requests - nurse husband's being by no means an uncommon source - and of course respond to all. There is one thing that we cannot do however. We cannot act as middle-men. If we find a badge we will tell you  where it is and advise how to obtain it, but we cannot
obtain the badge for you. Sorry.

I really must find time to get the advice on-line before the next news page. Meanwhile, feel free to email for the advice.

Nurse Histories.
In the February news I said that the ball was already rolling on our second project - a nurse/midwife who trained at St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth in the late 1930's, and who served during WWII with the Q.A.R.A.N.C territorial army. Being my personal special interest I was hoping that it would be open in time for this news page. Unfortunately personal circumstance conspired to delay this, but the ball is still rolling, much faster now, and before the next news page seems a certainty. The notice board of the forum will record the opening.
 
Articles.
Our latest article, the first of several detailed/illustrated articles about State Registration badges, went on-line late yesterday. The first is on the topic of GNC for England & Wales Registration badges. It will be followed by further articles on Registration and Enrolment badges - including those Issued by the GNC's for both Scotland and Ireland. You can read the present article right here.

Likewise, your feedback is always welcome.

Member Photograph Galleries.
Are still  accumulating at a very reasonable pace. The 'National' galleries now contain 2253 nursing/hospital badge photographs encompassing all areas of the UK; 315 photographs (buildings/people/ephemera); and 48 photographs of nurse uniforms, both civilian and military. Have a quick glimpse of the two latest badges:-


Cefn Coed Hospital Swansea
Photographic rights
'Backman'

National Heart Hospital

The galleries are becoming a small on-line museum and is adding to our knowledge of nursing history quite nicely, thanks to our contributors. It is available to anyone who cares to register as a member - a very simple process. All is free...

Welcome to the Forum and Member Galleries - Register Here.
Please be aware, our site is rated on Google by Norton Internet Security as being absolutely safe. We intend to keep it that way. You can help by using a reasonable ID and your own genuine email address. Anything that appears dubious may result in failed registration. Whilst our site is free to users, it is hosted by the largest ISP in Europe at commercial rates - with highly professional back-up. Safe and secure!

The site forum - Membership and Visitors.
In January 2007 we opened the forum for business.  I new topic; 4 replies; 2 new members; and 5 unique visitors!! The current situation is just a little different. At April 2010 we now have 164 topics'; and 821 posts from 185 members. Not too bad for a history site, but since this one deals with nurses, nursing and hospitals we still have some way to go. We have that in hand. So far we have still not sought to openly promote the site. Our preference has always been to ensure quality and more importantly, 24/7 availability. We seem to have achieved that...

Our March visitors. 7,661 (unique) visits. 29,492 pages served up. A year on year increase in visits of over 55% compared with the same period last year (2009). Nice.

Worldwide.. Certainly our visitors are wide ranging - from 44 countries worldwide... Australia & New Zealand and Canada are well represented in addition to the UK and USA. There are also some more esoteric sounding countries - China; Russia; Cayman Islands; Japan; Malaysia; plus Romania and Spain.

E-Mail Contact - the 'contact' link (above and throughout the site) arrives directly on the webmaster's desk. Use it to communicate directly with the site. All mail is considered confidential unless the contents are stated to be otherwise. Stated to be for public consumption by you. Publication itself is an editorial decision.
Collecting... When time is of the essence..
But no, for anyone who has misunderstood the title, this time round It is quite literal. When time really is of the essence, as any nurse knows, one has to attend to immediate priorities and simply do the best one can. That was exactly the situation I found myself in following the last news page, so my collecting had to concentrate on essentials, not all of which I am ready (photographically) to reveal.

So what little gems of history did I collect which were worthy of your precious time?

First off, following a tip-off from member 'Eric', I managed to acquire two complete sets of badges, (GNC(2); Hospital(3); Midwifery(1); RCN(2); Soroptomist(1)) plus Certificates(10), issued to a distinguished retired nurse and his wife. Along with the promise of his professional history which will hopefully be added to our nurse history bank. A superb gain. But one which curtailed my collecting habit somewhat (not a bad thing sometimes) and took a little time to complete.

The GNC badges are 1953 (chromium plated) varieties - but coming from a distinguished background they are of considerable historical value. The Hospital (training school) badges are equally desirable. A Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital; a St Charles Hospital; a 1956 Kingston General hospital (Hull); a 1957 CMB (Scotland); plus two versions of the older RCN badges are very nice and the certificates superb.

But the attraction doesn't stop there - the fact that the two nurses were a married couple makes these two (complete) sets precious. They should never be broken. The photographs will follow - hopefully in the October news page.
 
Next was this very original and genuine GNC (E&W) Wedgwood glass paperweight - a real steal on ebay from St Andrews Children's Hospice in Grimsby - all of £6.80 including postage. A steal? No, my conscience would never allow that - but that's my secret...

I also acquired a number of GNC badges for use in the article just published herein - a nice 1922 SRN; a low numbered 1926 RSCN; further SRN - 1930; 1933; and a 1948 RMND. All of which will feature (photos) in the GNC article. The reverse sides highlight some of the many differences between these badges.

But the item which started this rather disjointed collecting session was this - Miss Hester Strangman Mackesy, Eire GNC Reg 40102. She appears to have brought me the luck of the Irish - but then I kissed the Blarney Stone long before they put a safety cage on it. Maybe it wasn't just luck:-

Miss Hester Strangman Mackesy, R.G.N.,
20, Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin.
A magical  badge - Beautifully inscribed and issued by the Eire General Nursing Council - recognition without equal..

Maybe it wasn't just luck - maybe it was the little people!

Imagine. Imagine that you had a full set of state badges, all of them, English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh, but couldn't find enough time to look at them...  Forgive yourself? you never would.... Save yourself the worry - ask me to look after them for you!
WB.                       
*Our Forum Topic on GNC badges (open to all) can be found Here.

Another Photograph from the past...
Mayday Hospital Examination Prizegiving Spring 1973.
*Training Hospitals/Details Here
 
This photo contains several culprits from Jan’ 70 set (Last month's News) - plus graduates from other sets. Again, some names missing.
Apologies to those. I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who can supply names and whereabouts, as we are planning a 40 years reunion.
Also there must be other different group pictures from this occasion somewhere!

 (2009) Janet Herd. 
Photo Gallery Here.

Left to right:-
Fourth Row:  1.Sarojini Nair.  2.Ronald Best.  3. ?   4 .?   5.Lesley Ames.  6.Maureen Clohisey.  7.Marylin Thompson.  8. ?  9. ? 10.Sister Goad (Clinical Teacher).
Third Row:  1. ?  2.Gloria Fowle.  3. ?  4 .Anna Joseph.  5. ?  6. ?  7. ?  8. ?
Second row  1.Miss Fisher Nurse Tutor.  2.Sister Bogue (clinical Teacher).  3. ?  4. ?  5. ?  6.Miss Summers(Nurse Tutor).  7.Alice Sadick (standing).
Front row  1.?  2.Janet Herd.  3. ?  4. ?  5.Jennifer Booth.  6. ?  7. ?

Well, a lot of missing names, but once again that seems yet another very pleasant note upon which to end the Site News, so for now all the very best - smile and we all prosper!
WB.

Would you like to see your PTS or training group featured here? We desperately need more photographs to feature. Can you help?  If so please Contact us.


We express our grateful appreciation to those people
who have contributed the original photographs
used to produce the News Pages.

1. News heading photo (all dates) - John Reeves
2. Bristol Southmead Gold (April) - John Reeves
3. St Bartholomew's Gold (April) - Ruth Watkin-Jones
4. Haygarth Silver (April) - 'ukhistory' (ebay)
5. Newcastle LS (April) - Peter Backman (Nursing badges)
6. RRC Medal (April)  photo's- 'Caulgisbo' (ebay)
8. 'catandfrog' (July) - (ebay).
9. bokojnr (Dec) - (ebay).
10. blue.bottle (Dec) - (ebay).
11. 'backman' - (ebay).*
12. Hotminicooper (Jun) - (ebay).
13. Right-one50 (Oct - (ebay).
14. jcollinsmedals (Dec - (ebay).
15. Brittania Medals (Dec 2009).
16. elaine3080 (Feb 2010) - (ebay).
17. Fran Biley (Feb 2010) - schoolsofnursing.
18. St Andrews Children's Hospice - Grimbsby.
19.themedalcentre - (ebay).
 
All Copyrights are Asserted

*11. -  'backman' is also creator and webmaster of the 'nursingbadges'
&
'historyofhospitals' websites.



 

 
Home  Schools   Region   Forum   Collecting   Galleries   History   Bibliography   News Archive  Contact   National Archives