A Life in the Armed Forces (QARANC and QARNNS) by Wendy H. Jones

 

As Today is Armed Forces Day, I would like to start by saluting all those in the Armed Forces - Past and Present - for your service. Of course as this is a QARANC blog a particular shoutout to all those in the QARANC. I also thought it would be an ideal opportunity to reminisce about my time in the services. 

I beg your indulgence as I start by talking about my six years in the QARNNS as a student nurse and a staff nurse. In May 1979 I was posted to RNH Haslar in Gosport to undertake my student nurse training and thus started a career that would also twenty-three years. I  had a blast in the Navy. During my time I managed to go up in helicopter, was dropped off in the middle of a field, and was then winched up into the helicopter again. What a blast. Whilst I served my six years at Haslar, I did manage to do ten weeks at RAF Wegberg doing both the midwifery and community parts of my training. I went into Holland each day as we visited families in married quarters which were in The Netherlands rather than Germany. Yet again, a helicopter featured as we were taken up in an RAF helicopter and, as it was for pilot training, I was allowed to pilot it. What an experience. MY only sea time was one day at sea on HMS Invincible where I ran a creche for Families Day. Oh, and I go to launch a ship - HMS Glasgow. I kid you not.

I left the RN after six years, did a course in civvy street, and then joined the QARANC with a stint at the Queen Alexandra's Training Centre in Aldershot before being posted to Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital Woolwich. During this time I was on standby for 22 Field Hospital and went on Exercise Purple Warrior. This was a Tri-Service operation, hence the purple. It was a mixture of all three colours - navy, free, and blue. This took place in November. In Scotland. In the rain. I will leave the rest to your imagination. It also involved eight days on a cruise ship which was a fabulous experience. And you can see, various modes of transport played a large part in my nursing life. In fact, I got my third trip in a helicopter whilst on exercise with 22 Field. This time an Army helicopter used for transporting casualties. I can tell you, those pods they transport casualties in are an experience - one I am glad I had. From Woolwich I was seconded to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital to do my children's nursing and from there to Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot. Eight months later I found myself in Hong Kong which had to be one of my favourite places to live. Vibrant and exhilarating it's like no other place on earth. Working on the children's ward, it was a privilege to look after both Nepalese and Chinese children and to meet their families. Ambulances figured quite a bit as we would transfer seriously ill children to ITU in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, a civilian Chinese hospital. Whilst in Hong Kong I took the opportunity to learn Nepalese and Chinese all of which I have now forgotten. Oh, and did I mention, I got to go up in a helicopter. The father of one of the children on the ward was Army Air Corps and ran trips for the staff to see Hong Kong from the air. Awesome.

From Hong Kong I went to BMH Iserlohn in Germany. No helicopters this time but I did have to serve on a courts martial. That was a strange experience but it was part of my remit as an officer. The end of my posting in Germany found me back in Aldershot. For eight weeks. Yes, you've got that right, eight weeks. Then I, on a newly minted special regular commission, found myself in Jerusalem on loan to the St. John of Jerusalem organisation. I loved every minute of that. From Jerusalem I went to Duchess of Kent Military Hospital in Catteritck, starting on the Children's ward and ending up as the In Service Training Officer. I spent six months at Bovington Camp as Matron of the medical centre, then back to my role as ISTO in Catterick before moving into the Royal Defence Medical College in Gosport. I was right back where I started in the School of Nursing but this time tri-service and partnering with Portsmouth University. During my time I was sent to both Cyprus and Gibraltar to carry out training, went back to Israel for eight weeks to update my ophthalmic and paediatric certificates, and was given time to do charity work in Moldova for two weeks. I also went to the Brecon Beacons to do some training. That was an experience and I may write a full post about it in the future. A posting to Birmingham saw me setting up the Military Pre-Registration Nurse Education at the University of Central England (now Birmingham City University) and brought my career to a close. 

I loved every minute of my time in the services. It was twenty-three years of fun, friendship and hard work, and I don't regret a minute of it. The people I met, and the places I went, will stay with me forever. What about you, where were you posted? I would love to know. 

About the author 

Wendy H. Jones served as a Nursing Officer in the QARANC between 1987 and 2004 leaving with the rank of Major. She never went on an operational tour but undertook many exercises as well as serving in numerous units in both the UK and overseas. Hong Kong and Jerusalem had to be two of the highlights. Moving into nurse education, she was proud to have served as Tri-Service Head of Pre-Registration Nurse Education. This brought her full circle to where she started as a student nurse in the QARNNS. She is now an author and lives in Scotland. 

COVID Secure Garden Party June 2021 - QARANC Association Jurassic Coast Branch

The Committee

Pat McKay (Secretary), Moira Dixson (Dep Chair), Marjorie Bandy (Chair), 
Dot Ritchie (Treasurer), Sue Shrimpton (Communications).

12th June 2021 and we are still in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, albeit with continuing relaxation of the restrictions as the UK population are increasingly vaccinated.  A gathering of a number of branch members with guests, was an historical event after being unable to meet as a branch for over  18 months. We had all experienced social isolation, with some members who lived alone further impacted.  Therefore, being able to meet so many people outside was really something to look forward to.

Not a branch to sit on our laurels, we planned a garden party at a member's home in the beautiful New Forest National Park, keeping in mind we had to follow COVID guidelines. So, lots of hand gelling and remaining outside of the home.

The gardens had been decorated with the Union Jack flag and bunting, together with our Corp Flag and more bunting and balloons in red and grey.

The day started watching on television the Trooping of the Colour at Windsor Castle, re-located from Horse Guards Parade due to the pandemic. The whole spectacle was magnificent, with the Queen in a stunning outfit. It wasn't long before others joined us and the pre- lunch drinks flowed.

Two of the helpers for the day, wearing specially designed QA aprons made by the Chair. 

Before lunch in the barn an official photograph was taken. Sadly not all our colleagues made the photograph due to traffic delays.  However, they timed it perfectly for the food!

A short speech after lunch by our Chair who made a presentation to the hosts, of a much sought after Florence Nightingale rose.

After lunch it was time for garden games, cake and ice-creams.  Although for some, just sitting in the shade chatting was more than enough on such a hot day.

The games finished with Sue Shrimpton being awarded the gold medal for being the best combined games champion.

"Beautiful day with lovely lunch, Pimm's, games, shade to chat in, catch ups, tea and cake. Could not have been better, and behind all of this are amazing people who ensured it happened, so I support all thanks to our hosts and helpers" Fiona Thompson

BMH Singapore: The Shack and Egg Banjos by Moreen Doyle

BMH Singapore Gardens

 

BMH Singapore and Margaret House, my home for the next two years! The heat is stifling with high humidity but the School of Nursing at 70* offers some respite for the next few days. The mosquitos are loving my almost translucent white skin; weeping bites make for an uncomfortable time but our uniform of light grey polyester cotton is very comfortable. At least we don’t have to wear heavy army issue shoes, thank goodness, but black leather lace ups. Starched linen caps are the order of the day.



BMH Singapore has a very sad history, where the hospital and staff were overrun by the Japanese during WW2, none more poignant that when passing the football field where many souls had been buried. The guided tour of the hospital introduces me to the Dining Room where males and females are segregated by a large rattan room divider; interestingly, the rule, unspoken, is never broken or challenged by anyone, just accepted! The chefs are brilliant and more than happy to prepare a picnic lunch for day trips to the islands off Singapore; happy times, with beer/drinks cooling in the sea, a portable record turntable for music, rounders on the beach and wonderful snorkelling in clear blue seas. The NAAFI frequented by all other ranks of all disciplines is next door facing the gardens with its pond and badminton courts. The bullfrogs chatter is loud and clear.

The majority of wards are open to the elements, like our old TB wards in UK, where patients were nursed on the verandas. The tour includes my first placement, the Infectious Diseases ward. The ward is made up of many cubicles some large enough to house whole families although not intentionally so! The all pervasive smell is that of a smoky atmosphere combined with lysol solution. It becomes clear that the diseases here are wide ranging and commonplace, the most prevalent being Dystenteries, Shigella, Salmonella, but also Diptheria. With the advent of the Diptheria vaccine, it is now hard to comprehend the damage that this illness caused, wiping out whole families, often the most vulnerable, the elderly grandparents and the children. My first experience of major patient loss was losing 4 patients from a family of 6, hard to comprehend. Tuberculosis is also rife within the community and Public Health is sadly lacking. It is a multi ethic community with varying standards and disparity.

The team on the ward are wonderful, led by Corporal Suddin, a local nurse, very competent and supportive; to be fair, they needed to be, with a student who knew little about infection control. It is to their eternal credit that no student ever succumbed to illness. A South Vietnamese soldier, with Paratyphoid was transferred in, nursed in a darkened room, speaking no English or Malay which did present some problems, but he did recover! This particular ward, probably more than any other, has stood me in good stead throughout my career but ultimately demonstrated the vagaries in our NHS Infection control protocols!

Our training covered all specialities including theatres, which was to become my area of interest. Orthopaedics could be a bit challenging avoiding the big stag beetles on string! Something to get used to and a bit of lighthearted fun for bored squaddies! Maternity was always busy as Ghurka mums were admitted here rather than local hospitals; it did seem incongruous that we insisted on delivering their babies on a bed as opposed to them squatting, which was the norm for them! The Ghurkas, male and female, were always a pleasure to care for, the most wonderful people, courteous and kindly, I loved them! One of my endearing memories is accompanying a Ghurka Mum and her newborn, by ambulance, from BMH to The Cameron Highlands in Malaya. However, I did have to pass on the kind invite to attend the Gadhimai festival, where a bull is sacrificed! One of the funniest moment on the Surgical Ward (well it had our charge nurse in hysterics) was when a young Ghurka refused his medication and I stood over him, being very firm, until he took it! He then suggested that I would make a good wife for him, his 3rd, hence the hoots from my colleague doing the drug round! Memorable incidents in ITU included a young Ghurka wife, unconscious of unknown origin. No progress over two weeks so the local witchdoctor was called in to assist. She had been cursed by the 1st wife and fell into a coma, and now made a full recovery and was discharged. A young British girl was admitted with agranulocytosis following a Middle East tour of her dance troop; she had been prescribed antibiotics at each port of call for tonsillitis; sadly she did not recover.

Student nurses did not work on the Psychiatric ward but could be called if a female patient needed 'specialling.' Often patients were casevac’d to Netley Hospital, the Services Mental Hospital in Southampton. Highlights of life were night shopping at the markets in Orchard Road, the infamous Bugis Street, and egg Banjos from the wooden 'shack' across the road. One of the contingent would be detailed off to get the 'egg banjos' which were wonderful; basically an omelette with soya sauce, within a large baguette! Happy memories, once you got over your fear of eating from a shack with a mud floor and cats and chickens for company! I know of no ill effects over the whole period!  The other highlight was the opportunity to R & R in Penang where there was a  services holiday centre. Wonderful. It required an overnight train journey on a sleeper, to Kuala Lumpur, then transfer to Georgetown and a boat to Penang. I recall being awakened with tea and pink bananas for breakfast! Decadence, and I must mention the Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel, not frequented often!!

In late 1969 the British Government were in the process of handing over Singapore Island to the Singapore citizens under Lee Kuan Yew; Australian and New Zealand Forces assisted in this transition. Change was the order of the day! The deployment will always hold wonderful memories and I feel privileged to have been the recipient of the training and all the opportunities afforded to me. I would repeat it in a heartbeat!

About the Author

Moreen Doyle, nee Munro, spent 2 years in student training at BMH Singapore but left the service on marriage, which was expected at this time. However, the time spent in the service underpinned a lifetime of nursing service in the NHS, specialising in Operating Theatres and Day Surgery and ended her career managing the service in Cayman Islands prior to retirement.

 

Onward Journey by Moreen Doyle

 

The year is 1967 and I have just completed my QARANC basic training at the Royal Pavilion, Aldershot. My group are from all corners of the UK and we gradually form into small supportive cells to support each other. Discipline, square bashing, inspection, diligence, respect for other ranks and officers and a modicum of fitness are the order of the day. I recall 'bulling' the shoes until they shone! Parades and 'square bashing’ as it was called, was interesting and challenging to some who could not differentiate right from left! Serious but raised many laughs also! There was a stable at the end of the drive which one of our group practically lived in; it was the nearest you could get to the perimeter. The excitement when we could actually leave the premises, weeks later, to go into town and to the first social function, was exhilarating!

Freedom!.

On leaving Aldershot my first placement at the Royal Herbert Hospital in Woolwich is on the male Orthopaedic Ward, running the gauntlet of the bored squaddies with fractured limbs ! A steep learning curve in more ways than one!. A funny moment was when a lad called me Marilyn

because of my surname, ( anyone less like Marilyn Monroe you couldn’t imagine)! A trip to the office where Sister tore me off a strip for telling them my first name, not true! The offender was also spoken to!! I thought harmless fun but not acceptable apparently! Apart from the obligatory sluice and cleaning of shiny bedpans this was my first introduction to a Stryker frame with halo and a female patient in a full body plaster, a Senior Officer no less. I remember my trepidation in trying to attend to her personal care. I’m sure she was none too impressed with such a junior!

Discipline was still strict at the Royal Herbert with curfew at 11pm and no male visitors to the female quarters, a large sign at the entrance confirming this!

My group are now waiting to hear where our next posting will be and I am thrilled to learn that it will be BMH Singapore. It is November and sadly, my immediate friends in the block will be going to Munster in Germany and I shall miss them; it is amazing how close we have all become in a short period of time, maybe cohesion in the face of adversity! I recall sing songs in the lounge of the nurses quarter, accompanied by guitar, eating apples & cheese, on the recommendation of an Irish colleague, with scrumptious cherries from the market, a real treat, while trying to keep the place tidy for Mrs Green, the housekeeper. Good times!

I found the journey to Singapore amazing never having flown before. We flew in a VC10 from Lyneham airport and were able to visit the cockpit where the pilots pointed out all the lights as we flew down the Italian coast. Next stop Teheran, in the middle of the night. We had to disembark while they refuelled and we were joined in the lounge by a group of Mongolian travellers resplendent in their huge fur coats and hats. It was extremely cold and we were relieved to be back in the aircraft.

Next stop the island of Gan in the Indian Ocean; to see this speck in the ocean it is impossible to believe than any plane can land there, particularly a huge VC10. The runway is actually the length of the island! Not for the faint hearted.

Onwards to Singapore where we land at Changi airport. As the doors are opened I feel the blast of hot air, as never before! Trundling bags across to a mini bus, I feel rather tired and bedraggled after the long flight. Travelling along, the first thing to notice is the unbelievable smell, compounded by the heat. Our driver, seeing our expressions says ’ no worries that is just the monsoon drains and the kampongs, you will get used to it!" How true and how quickly!

BMH hospital looks lovely; a pristine white building with a red roof and gardens in front. The paths around the buildings are lined with trees covered in blossom and a sweet scent permeates the air.

Three nurses homes are situated at the rear of the hospital and we are guided into Margaret

House at the end of the drive. We have individual rooms, sparse but comfortable and are introduced to the Amah, a local Chines lady who, with her daughters, will do the cleaning and laundry.

We were to be very grateful for her help and support during our time there and a few of us would be invited to dine with her at her home for Chinese New Year; a tiny flat in a multi-storey block. The food usually consisted of 12 courses and was amazingly good. She was a very special part of our stay, unobtrusive but always smiling and helpful and our uniforms were always pristine!

The following day we were introduced to the School of Nursing run by Colonel Treacy, a lovely lady who made us very welcome. We enjoyed the visit as it was the only place we felt cool at this time; however as we acclimatised we were to find that the School of Nursing was the one place where we felt cold, being air conditioned, at 70* and were allowed to wear cardigans over our light grey polyester cotton uniform! The average daily temperature was in the 90*s.  At all times we felt incredibly supported by all ranks and disciplines within the hospital, very much a family atmosphere. I look forward to continuing with further information about the hospital, particularly the diseases prevalent at the time.

About the Author

Moreen Doyle, nee Munro, spent 2 years in student training at BMH Singapore but left the service on marriage, which was expected at this time. However, the time spent in the service underpinned a lifetime of nursing service in the NHS, specialising in Operating Theatres and Day Surgery and ended her career managing the service in Cayman Islands prior to retirement.