Nurses in Training

By Christine Davies Curtis

It is the 1950s. Tina, Hine and Sally are three young women who meet for the first time at the Preliminary Training School of a large Midland Hospital Group. After a rocky start the girls with very different backgrounds, form a lasting friendship.
Tina comes from a sheltered life in a middle-class family in Stratford-on-Avon: Hine is half Maori and had an illegitimate child in New Zealand, but this is not known to the others for some time. Sally was born with a silver spoon in her mouth but after a escapade in Switzerland, is packed off to train to be a nurse, much to her disgust.
The story follows the nursing experiences of the young women as they pass their Preliminary Examinations and find themselves facing the real challenges of their training and the development of relationships with the opposite sex.
Tina is a born nurse and revels in the work in a male surgical. It is here that she meets Jerry, a man who will have an important part to play in her life.
At first Hine is very homesick for the land of her birth, and for the South Island sheep station where she grew up. She was parted from her young son and longs to have news of him, but has lost touch with the cousins in New Zealand who were looking after him. She settles to study and also becomes a competent nurse.
Sally is the lively, beautiful product of a wealthy family, whose mother has little time for her after her father dies. She is shunted off to an austere aunt living in a lovely old Manor House for her days off.
The three year training sends the nurses to many different wards in five different hospitals, and they grow in confidence and experience. From the older General Hospital to the modern Queen Mary’s; from the Children’s to the Women’s and the Nerve Hospital. In each, the young women have to work long hours and face many sad, exacting and even funny experiences.
After the first year, the students are allowed to live away from the Nurses’ Home. Tina and Hine decide to share a tiny attic flat, while Sally’s mother arranges a bedsit for her in a friend’s house. This does not stop Sally enjoying a lively social life.
However, Sally at last finds work she revels in and is gifted to do. Here she also meets Peter Phillips, who finds the real young woman under the brash exterior.
Tina becomes attracted to the worldly-wise Ralph whom she meets at a disastrous weekend with Sally at her aunt’s. The innocent girl is no match for Sally’s scheming cousin and has to learn the hard way how to look after herself.
Hine also comes under the influence of the charismatic but amoral Ralph as he plays one girl against the other, until a crisis is reached and diverted by Jerry.
After three strenuous years of training, when the friendship is cemented, each girl finds her future path.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christine Davies Curtis
• Release date: Jul 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310979941

Christine Davies Curtis

Chris Davies Curtis now lives in the north of Auckland, in Whangaparaoa, Auckland, New Zealand to be near son Roy and family. Much of her very adventurous life has been spent as a community nurse, in London, the tiny feudal Island of Sark in the British Channel Isles, and New Zealand. She also ran a guest house and smallholding in Sark and toured New Zealand for two years in a Bedford van. She has travelled extensively, and now is writing about her experiences, self-illustrating her books.

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Nurses in Training

by

Chris Davies Curtis

Published by Chris Curtis Books

Copyright 2020 belongs to Christine Davies Curtis

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CHAPTER 1

Tina took the young student nurse’s hand and pressed it hard on the dressing before concentrating on the instrument trolley by her side.

‘Press as hard as you can nurse to stop the bleeding, while I prepare the sutures.’

The jagged wound still pumped blood through the girl’s fingers and dripped on the floor. At the sound of a gasp, Tina turned in time to see the young girl’s face blanch.

‘Here, let me do that. Go and see if you can find the doctor. . .and you’d better get a breath of fresh air.’

After nearly three years training Tina had become inured to all the sights and emergencies she had experienced. She had nearly forgotten how it felt to be a new trainee. With a flash, a memory of her first day returned and she remembered how she had watched the tiny motes of dust spiralling in a shaft of weak February sunlight. It shone into the dark chapel like a ray of hope for the future.

She remembered the moving words read by the Matron, and had joined the eighty other student nurses in reading the Nightingale Pledge. Her heart had swelled with pride and some apprehension. This was it. She was a trainee Nurse in a large Midland Hospital. It was 1958, and she was just eighteen years old.

********************

Tina glanced at the girl next to her. Dark eyes flashed in the sunlight, reflecting it like jet beads and the expressionless honey-brown face showed no emotion. The girl’s black hair was scraped under her stiff white starched cap, and the soft fitted collar looked tight on her slim neck. Her light brown skin showed off the butter-yellow uniform dress and dark blue cape, with just a peep of the red lining in sight and the red ties criss-crossed her chest tightly. Looking around at the rows of identically dressed girls, Tina stifled a grin.

‘We all look like soldiers going into battle,’ she muttered, but her neighbour either did not hear or chose to ignore her.

Feeling a little rebuffed, Tina tried again to make friends. She was at the same time lonely but excited at the prospect of meeting new people, though she was not sure about sharing a room with strangers. As an only child she had never had to do that before. ‘I wonder what happens now.’ She whispered to her neighbour.

‘Well, if you had listened instead of chattering you would have heard the Matron tell us to go to the classroom.’ She moved away and was soon swept up by the other nurses surging towards the exit doors.

‘Thanks a bunch!’ Tina felt that was not such a good start but walked out with the others, along the green and cream corridors and across a courtyard to the Preliminary Training School Building. The sun had disappeared behind billowing clouds and a cold wind whipped little pieces of rubbish and old dried autumnal leaves around her ankles. She was glad of the laced brown shoes and thick black stockings as she wrapped her wool cloak around her shoulders. Suddenly a stronger gust threatened to dislodge her cap, and strands of her unruly auburn hair sprang from the pinned back of the cap and she nearly knocked her glasses off as she grabbed for it. Her cloak flew open and flapped around her and the unflattering uniform.

Giggling, the girls tumbled into the Training School, to be brought up sharply by a command from the diminutive figure in grey just inside the door.

‘Nurses; Nurses! Rule one; you do not run and must at all times maintain your dignity! Remember what you have just pledged. Now follow me into the classroom.’ Meekly the chastened nurses obeyed and listened to their first instructions.

‘Now, you will be here at Preliminary Training for three months. Each week you will have a day on the ward which you will be assigned to after the training. You will first have to sit a small examination.’

The Sister Tutor paused and swept her steely gaze among the fidgeting girls. ‘Some of you will not get any further than that.’

There was a general gasp from the now still and attentive group.

‘Yes, I know some of you have always wanted to be nurses; some misguided idea that you will be an angel of mercy.’ There was a grim smile on the pinched features of the Sister. ‘Well, think again! You have three years of hard labour, sleepless nights, exhaustion and examinations and then, and only then, you may call yourselves nurses.’

Tina stole a look at the girls standing near her. The expressions varied from defiance, sulkiness, near tears and some like her, showed a resolution to succeed. ‘Well I’m not giving in,’ she muttered. ‘What else would I do? Teach? That was the only other alternative; anyway I want to travel.’ She had decided to join the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps with a commission, as soon as she was a State Registered Nurse. At her Grammar school there were not many alternatives offered. Teaching and nursing were the accepted professions, unless you were bright and wealthy enough to go to University. Anyway you were expected to get married and look after your husband and family as soon as ‘Mr Right’ came along. Nursing was regarded as an ideal training for that. ‘Well not me’ Tina had vowed, ‘I want to do more with my life than that.’

‘So now you can all go over to the notice board and check which bedrooms you are sharing. But first . . .’ again the steely gaze swept through the assembled group. ‘A word of warning: absolutely no men allowed in the nurses home,’ there was a subdued titter from one side of the room, which abruptly stopped as Sister swung to glare in that direction.

‘You are allowed one late pass a month, otherwise you must be in by 9 pm. The doors are locked at that time and woe betide anyone who transgresses these rules.’

Tina made her way to the notice board, but the press was such that she held back. Time enough for that. She was not looking forward to settling into the nurses’ home.

‘What an old bag,’ said a husky voice behind her; ‘that’s what happens if you become a frustrated old maid and I don’t plan that for myself.’ A little shocked but intrigued, Tina spun round to see who had spoken, and smiled at the prettiest girl she had ever seen. Blond curls escaped from the severe cap and sparkling incredibly blue eyes twinkled with mischief. The young woman who had spoken had a mature look in her eyes and the uniform could not disguise the attractive curves.

‘I’m looking forward to all those doctors and medical students, not to mention a few suitable male patients!’ she giggled. ‘Hello, I’m Sally. Come on let’s see what ghastly room-mates we’ve got.’

The group round the notice board parted and Tina found herself looking at sheets of paper and rows and rows of names. ‘Oh, damn, I’ve got to share with two others!’ Sally did not seem to mind what she said. ‘I wonder if I can change. What room are you in? I like the look of you, shall we share?’ Without waiting for an answer the bouncy blond headed for the nurses’ home, dragging Tina with her.

A quick dash across the freezing courtyard, where flurries of snow added to the discomfort, and they were inside the solid brick building that looked like a barracks. The corridors were painted the same green and cream and the air was as cold as it was outside.

‘I’m in room 24 where are you. . .er I don’t even know your name.’ The laughter was rich and infectious.

‘Tina; Tina Anderson at your service. I’m in room 29’, Tina clicked her heels and held out her hand in mock seriousness.

‘Tina I like you. I knew we would get on. Well that’s on the same floor. Let’s see what we can arrange.’

Feeling as if she had been caught up in a whirlwind, Tina followed her new friend up an echoing stone staircase to room 29. The door was ajar and Sally pushed it open without knocking. There were already a couple of nurses sitting on two of the three beds, and judging by the expressions on their faces they were not getting along very well. Tina’s heart sank as she recognised the brown-skinned girl she had first spoken to in the chapel.

‘Hello girls, look there has been a big mistake: my friend . . .Tina. . . and I were supposed to be sharing, but there has been a bit of a botch-up. I don’t suppose either of you would change, would you?’

The sulky dark-haired girl exclaimed. ‘Well I’m not moving. I am having this bed by the window.’

The other girl picked up her things and glowered at her room-mate. ‘You’re welcome to her, miserable so-and-so.’ She turned to Sally, ‘which is your room?’

’24: I’ll come and get my suitcase and we had better find the Home Sister and tell her.’

Tina felt embarrassed to be left with this strange girl. She noticed something different and foreign about her. There was an accent in her voice that Tina thought was Australian.

‘Hello, well we had better get to know each other. We sort of met in the Chapel, you might remember? I’m Tina. What’s your name?’

‘Hine Weaver.’

‘Oh that’s a bit unusual. Er, are you Australian by any chance? I sort of thought I heard an accent.’

‘No, I’m from New Zealand. I’m Maori: well part.’

Tina was amazed and embarrassed as Hine suddenly burst into tears. ‘I miss my home so much. I didn’t want to come here, but there was no choice. There is somewhere to live you see. My Dad is away at sea and my Mum is back home and she didn’t want me anyway.’ As if the tide had burst she could not stop talking. ‘We had a lovely life on the sheep station, then it all went wrong. She found someone else. I hate her: I hate her!’ She sat there thumping the bed with a fist.

The bedroom door opened suddenly and Sally walked in with a bag and an expensive-looking suitcase.

‘Well I see you two are getting to know each other. What on earth have you done to the poor girl, Tina? Well I think we need some refreshment to celebrate.’

She threw her suitcase onto the spare bed, opened it, and brought out a bottle of wine and a corkscrew. ‘Grab the tooth mugs by the washbasin will you Tina?’ she said, as with practiced ease she opened the wine.

Hine had wiped her eyes and approached the other two. Touching Tina’s arm she said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m so homesick.’

‘That’s O.K.I guess we all are, and a bit scared.’

The three young women lifted their wine-filled tooth mugs in a toast.

‘To our future!’

CHAPTER 2

The months of preliminary training, or ‘Prelim’ as the nurses soon called the hours of lectures and practical instruction, passed swiftly. The subjects ranged from basic anatomy and physiology, hygiene, and simple first aid, to bandaging, mixing of lotions, washing and blanket baths and bed making.

‘God, I hope I don’t flunk the exam. I just can’t remember much of the basic anatomy and physiology!’ moaned Sally, as the three girls sprawled on their beds the day before their ‘Prelim’ exam.

‘You’ll be fine; just think of all those lovely Med. Students,’ teased Hine. She had eventually settled and accepted her new life and showed an aptitude for learning and soaked up the lectures like a sponge.

As Hine predicted, the three friends all passed the ‘prelim’ exam. Hine was second in the list and Tina a healthy 15th, while Sally just scraped in near the bottom.

‘Well, thank God that’s over,’ Sally exclaimed. ‘What are you all doing for the weekend off before the beginning of ward duty?’ Not waiting for a reply she said she was going to stay with an aunt in the country. ‘Mother is on one of her jaunts, so I shall have to look at cows and horses. Might go riding though. There was a dishy new lad at the stables last visit.’

‘I’m going to stay with my Dad.’ Hine muttered, ‘He doesn’t have a lot of time off, but I