I had, I think it was chicken pox and the first time I remember, I was about sixteen, before I ever saw a doctor, we never had a doctor. Granny Sanders, she used to have sort of natural remedies and we used to have those and I can remember Mum calling in the District Nurse just to look at me, that I’d got chickenpox. I don’t know if it was a notifiable disease then, I don’t know, possibly it was. Sixteen before I ever went to a doctor, because I can remember I had ringworm… Mum was quite upset, because she always associated it with being dirty, but you can get it through cats and we had a cat, so possibly that’s where I got it from. The remedy for that was ink, ordinary writing ink and you used to have that on… do you know ringworm? It’s sort of scaly, but it’s in rings, a skin disease, and so I had all these blobs of ink all on it, but it cured it!
As District Nurse…. [turning pages andreading] National Orphan Home for Girls, Ham Common, Surrey, under the patronage of His Majesty the King. Founded 1842, and this is dated February1921.
Can you read out the letter to us? Dear Mrs Sanders, my committee request me to ask you to kindly accept the enclosed five shillings as a small token of appreciation of the services you rendered the Home on January the 29th, with renewed thanks, believe me, yours faithfully, Florence W. Reed, Secretary.
Yes, that must be from the presentation to Mrs Sanders. ‘An interesting presentation made at the school on Saturday afternoon on behalf of some 200 subscribers – Lady Sudeley handed a silver-plated tea service, a purse of money and an album containing a list of subscribers, to Mrs Sanders in appreciation of her energetic and valuable service as Village Nurse during the past four and a half years. Mrs Sanders took over the duties of nurse when, early in the War, Nurse Watson was called away for duty in France. The vicar, the Reverend J.R. Preedy, presided at Saturday’s gathering and reference was made to the excellent manner in which Mrs Sanders performedher duties and to the high esteem in which she was held by the villagers. Nurse Samuels has now been appointed to the position of Village Nurse.’