A Guernsey evacuee invalided out of nursing tries other employment

Beryl Sebire (née Saich) interviewed by Matt Harvey, Social History Officer, Guernsey Museum. The interview recorded on video. The video transcribed by J David 5-8/9/2005

But anyway, that was part of my experience, but then I wanted to, I always wanted to nurse, when I was a child, I was fifteen and a half when I went away, I had no idea where to go, what to do, who to ask, didn’t know a thing. So I took myself off to the Central Middlesex Hospital, told the Matron I always wanted to nurse, “How old are you, dear?” I told her I was nearly sixteen “I cant take you for a twelvemonth”. That twelvemonth was the longest twelvemonth in my life, waiting for nursing. So she took me in there, and we were what we called “bluecoats” I was only there six months, and unfortunately I caught rheumatic fever and scarlet fever. That was the end of my nursing career. It broke my heart, it broke my heart. It was all I had ever wanted to do. So I had to do something light, I wouldn’t be called up, that was one thing, I wouldn’t be called up anyway, women were called up just like men, and I wanted something in that line, so I became a secretary to a school doctor, and I used to go round to the schools, and get out the appropriate forms, and send them home to the parents, ask them to tick in the spaces, has your child had chicken-pox, measles, mumps, all the ordinary things that a doctor would know for a medical, and I had to weigh them and measure them, and the schools fortunately in Southall they didn’t get hit, that was marvellous, so then what did I do, oh yes I went into a place called the Bell Punch, they used to make tickets for the trams before the war, and I sat in the actual workshop, making planes, I saw many a big wing attached to a plane at the back, sat at a — it wasn’t a desk — long wooden thing whatever it was and we kept looking up “Girls, its on orange, on orange, get right to dive” off she’d go again, dive underneath it, down tools in the workshop, anyway, we were lucky, we weren’t hurt there.

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