Old Nurse’s Home memories

Old Nurses Home memories will never fade

The Trust’s plans for two new hospitals on the Leeds General Infirmary site will mean the demolition of the Old Nurses Home building - one of the first to go when work gets under way later this year.

The building dates back to the late 1800s but was officially opened as a nurses home in October 1937 by the Princess Royal. It had room for 150 nurses - with thousands of trainees having passed through its corridors and used its facilities over the years.

Starting their nurse training was for many young women their first venture away from their parental home and, for some, moving to Leeds was a daunting prospect. Qualifying and getting a prized Leeds nursing badge and certificate was a real achievement as the training at the city’s hospitals was – and still is - highlyregarded and opened doors to more opportunities in nursing. The past will be making way for the future with the new hospital buildings delivering state-of-the-art facilities in the centre of Leeds, but for many nurses their memories of the Old Nurses Home will never fade.

Living in the Nurses Home most definitely had happy memories for Linda Dakin (nee Brown) - it’s where she met her husband John.

Linda was just 18 when she left her home in Hull to start her nursing career – 50 years ago this year. She said they used to hold discos in the large TV room at the nurses home and at one of them she met John, her husband of 47 years. “He would meet me at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hall and bring me back before 10:30pm. If we were late I had to sit in the casualty department and wait for the night warden to let me in.” Her eldest daughter Lucy followed her mother’s career by starting her nurse training when she was 18. She currently works at the LGI as a Cardiac Research Nurse.

“It was both scary and exciting seeing Lucy choose a career in nursing as training had changed so much, but it was always wonderful to listen to her experiences and watch her grow in confidence,” said Linda. Edwina Gerry did her training from 1970-

Old Nurses Home memories will never fade

Clockwise from top right: Edwina Gerry; Linda Dakin and daughter Lucy Leese; Pat Taylor; Judith Sugden; Sandy Dalby; Jeanne Cooper. 72 and she was recognised for achieving a high standard of practice by being awarded the Eva Moynihan Gold Medal. She recalls how the friendships blossomed from her first day in the Nurses Home and she’s still in touch with the nurse who was in the first room next to her.

“Life felt safe and we were full of expectation for the future. I’m sure our parents were pleased that there was a certain level of care and support for us as we were straight from school and our parental homes into nursing,” she said. Ninety-year-old Jeanne Cooper started her training aged 17 in 1947 before the NHS came into being “You weren’t allowed any men in the home although there was later a “beau’s parlour” where you could take in your boyfriend – but you had to book them in and the sisters were very strict and didn’t allow you to overstay the welcome,” she said. Trainees then had to stay at the Nurses Home for two years. “If you wanted to live outside from your third year you had to get matron’s permission and she was like a stand-in “mother”,” she said. Sandy Dalby (nee Hargreaves) did her training between 1962-64 and her abiding memory was deciding to sleep on the roof of the Nurses Home one hot summer’s evening with her friends. “It was extremely warm in the rooms and as the roof was only six steps up, we decided to take our mattress and sheets onto the roof where it was cooler,” she said.

“I remember having dances in the hall – and Christmas pantomimes staged and performed by the doctors and ward sisters with in-house jokes and innuendos!”

“Only problem was the Town Hall clock striking on the hour – and when we got back indoors we realised the white sheets had black dots on. We hadn’t realised that the soot from the chimneys had dirtied them.”

Pat Taylor is president of the LGI Nurses

League, a group of former nurses who keep in touch with eachother through the organisation. She says as nurses had to live in the nurses home for the first two years of training it was like being in a boarding school, but they made life-long friends – many they still see to this day. “I remember having dances in the hall – and Christmas pantomimes staged and performed by the doctors and ward sisters with in-house jokes and innuendos!”

Judith Sugden was typical of many trainee nurses who came to Leeds from afar – in her case, from a farm in rural North Yorkshire to the big city. It was daunting, but she soon got used to its rules. “You had to be in bed by 10.30pm and the “Home Sister” would patrol the corridors and listen in to see if there was any talking in the rooms as we sometimes used to meet up in each other’s rooms for a chat. I’ve known some nurses to hide in wardrobes to escape attention. All men had to wait in the Nurses Home Entrance Hall they were not allowed beyond even if it was your father or brother.”