Sixty Years a Nurse

Sixty Years a Nurse
Mary Hazard

When 18-year-old Mary Hazard touched down in post-war Putney to begin her nurse’s training, she could never have known that it was the beginning of a colourful career that would still be going 60 years later – one of the longest ever serving NHS nurses.For Mary, raised in a strict convent in rural south Ireland, working in her first London hospital was a shocking and life-changing experience. Against a backdrop of ongoing rationing and poverty, she saw for the first time the horrors of disease, the heart-breaking outcomes of failed abortions – and faced the genuine shock of seeing a man naked for the first time!60 Years a Nurse follows the dramas and emotions as Mary found her feet during those early years. From the firm friends she made under the ever-watchful gaze of Matron and the sisters, to the eclectic mix of Londoners she strove to care for; the Teddy Boys she danced with and the freedom of living away from home; and her own burgeoning love story, as extraordinary as it was romantic – these are the funny and heartwarming moments that helped Mary to follow her dream.

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Copyright (#udea7a680-12d9-50f2-9f52-8c7d838d14ca)

HarperElement

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First published by HarperElement 2015

FIRST EDITION

© Mary Hazard and Corinne Sweet 2015

Cover image © Mary Evans Picture Library/Roger Mayne (The person in this image is not in any way related to any of the people portrayed in this book)

Cover layout © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

Mary Hazard and Corinne Sweet assert the moral

right to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record of this book is

available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008118372

Ebook Edition © April 2015 ISBN: 9780008118389

Version: 2015-03-06

Dedication (#udea7a680-12d9-50f2-9f52-8c7d838d14ca)

To my wonderful family, and children Anthony and Christopher, and to Jennifer, whom I will never forget (MH)

To Corinne and Albert Haynes, for being there, and being you (CS)

Contents

Cover (#u836e4afb-9f35-542b-96be-f833dffcf490)

Title Page (#ulink_11456cfb-4da3-5dad-ab73-70c395bfc9a7)

Copyright (#ulink_494933ac-173d-5642-b5fd-f5d50ce0d73d)

Dedication (#ulink_6aa95f28-94a6-5175-acb7-793002059cda)

Foreword (#ulink_430e3943-c4e0-5adf-acdc-0a8317c631e3)

Acknowledgements (#ulink_a710ffa7-7636-595c-b250-4bf91580ead9)

1: Arriving from Ireland (#ulink_ed9cd7e7-046b-5cab-b12e-9df913099d56)

2: Joining the Regiment (#ulink_5a9f7f40-dd76-5e34-ba43-f1a2a8553d17)

3: Settling In (#ulink_f1b2a2aa-fc25-5b97-bd4d-d3d18830747b)

4: Bring Out Your Dead (#ulink_4c2fe138-bf25-5d0a-84a8-f7473aee2478)

5: Yes, Matron; No, Sister (#ulink_377d0248-259d-5eb6-8d41-d5efa32e7d8f)

6: Of Lice and Men (#litres_trial_promo)

7: Public Enema Number One (#litres_trial_promo)

8: Letting My Hair Down (#litres_trial_promo)

9: Tragic Love Story (#litres_trial_promo)

10: Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook (#litres_trial_promo)

11: Theatre Tales (#litres_trial_promo)

12: TB Traumas (#litres_trial_promo)

13: Carbolic, Drugs and TLC (#litres_trial_promo)

14: Private Rooms and Community Life (#litres_trial_promo)

15: Kidnapped (#litres_trial_promo)

16: Reader, I Married Him … and Carried On Working for the Next Sixty Years … (#litres_trial_promo)