9) Theatres

There were three theatres: there was the theatre which was looked after the by Theatre Superintendent — she was very proud of it, and we called her Holy Mary, then there was Theatre Two, and Theatre Three)

First of all you started off in the packing room —where you packed all the drums - because you didn’t have sterile supplies then. So you started by packing the drums, then one day you’d be told you were going out in to theatre. You started by doing what you call ‘running’ —sort of actually getting everything that they needed. You had to put the swabs out in sixes, and woe betide you if they weren’t right — they’d count them to make sure they were all correct.

Ultimately, you were promoted to going into Theatre two and three, with the three sisters — including the Superintendent. She’d say “you’re going to take the case today”, and you had to learn what they called this ‘non-touch technique’ where you used forceps and threaded everything like that- not using your hands at all.

You spent quite a long time on Theatre. You had to wash the tiles top to bottom, every night, and set up all the needle trays, and mend the gloves — because of course; you couldn’t get rubber gloves during wartime. You had to patch them up.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the BBC Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Patricia Davies and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Pat's stories:

• 1) I suppose it was inevitable…
• 2) Getting used to being on the wards
• 3) The unchanging rota
• 4) Othopaedic Wards
• 5) The Miners
• 6) Keeping coffee warm in the sterilizer
• 7) Mouth gags and tongue clips
• 8) Dear Flower Girl
• 10) The Nurse’s Home
• 11) The ‘Guinea Pig Club’
• 12) Mice in the washing and other tricks
• 13) Enamel washbowls on your heads
• 14) Extra Work
• 15) Shake and Shake…
• 16) Little Nurse
• 17) A lot of things were introduced during the War
• 18) Only two nights off
• 19) Making and Breaking
• 20) My little bucket and I
• My visit to post-War Germany

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.