13) Enamel Washbowls on your heads

When you first went into your preliminary training school, and then into hospital — you were in a set in, and you remained in that set throughout; so lists went up around the hospital went up around the hospital saying where you were to go if the sirens sounded.

If you were on day duty, you only left a skeleton staff on the ward. We had great big wooden shutters, and the junior nurse who was left on the ward used to have to fly around with a pole and put all these shutters up. We also had these enamel washing bowls, and the idea was that you’d put them on the lockers, and if the bombs were falling you had to hold them over the patients heads. I don’t think it would have given them much protection, it was more psychological.

That was the junior nurse’s job, and the sister and staff nurse, stayed on the ward. I don’t have any memories of the patients ever being too perturbed really. I suppose it was war time, and everybody just got used to it.

You were allocated these areas, and you had to go to these different areas and wait until the all clear sounded. We didn’t have many air raids during the day time: it was chiefly night time, and the reason was they were heading for Crewe because it was a station where people would converge, so they usually passed over Stoke on Trent.

We did have these sirens every night- they usually went off at about half past nine. You could almost set your clock by them. We were off duty at nine o’ clock, and we were desperate to get off and get up to our rooms and have a wash or a bath — (we were only allowed five inches of water in the bath — nobody ever came to check it but I suppose we were very loyal.) But we were desperate to have a wash, but sometimes you didn’t make it - if you were kept on the ward.

After you heard the sirens you’d have to go down to the shelters, and the shelters were right opposite the nurses’ home. Two home sisters would be there, and they’d put planks along as seats, and you’d sit there, and then usually the all-clear would go at around two or three o’clock in the morning — perhaps a bit later. We’d then gather up our bits and pieces, and go off to our rooms, and get washed and changed and go on duty again.

The fact that you’d been down in the shelters didn’t really make much difference really- nobody said are you tired — it was accepted. We still did our nursing duties and kept exactly to the times were supposed to. We had lectures to go to, and exams too, the air raids didn’t change those either.

As you became more senior the places you were sent to changed. One of the places I was sent to was under the stairs on a biscuit mattress. I had to share it with one other nurse, and we topped and tailed on it.

I was far more afraid of the cockroaches than I was of the bombs!

Another place I was allocated was right down through the hospital, and right down the staircase and go right down into the bottom part of the hospital and we had to crawl along a passage under these huge water pipes until we reached a huge cellar place. I used to be terrified - I remember saying to one of my friends “Hey, what will happen if one of these pipes bursts?” She replied “Pat, don’t worry you’ll just be drowned, but before that you’ll be scalded”. I said “Thank you very much!”

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
• 9) Theatres
• 10) The Nurse’s Home
• 11) The ‘Guinea Pig Club’
• 12) Mice in the washing and other tricks
• 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

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