For those of you who are too young to know what I am talking about, the Spiders were the wooden huts found at the bottom of the steep stone steps past the Louise Margaret maternity unit at the CMH and this is where the QA junior ranks lived. I don’t know exactly why they were called “Spiders” but I suspect it was due to them having a central corridor with “legs” in the middle and at each corner.
I could be wrong about why they were named as such but those of us who had the pleasure of living in the Spiders know they could have been so called for other reasons! You see, we humans knew we were not the only occupants! The other residents had many more legs than us and certainly moved a lot faster. A drill sergeant would have had great fun with them!
It wasn’t so much the actual real live spiders I minded – they eat flies after all, but I was more concerned about the hard-shelled cockroaches which ran about the floor, the occasional field mouse which came in out of the cold, the ants and the squirrels which held a barn dance on the roof every day when you were trying to sleep after night duty! I clearly remember waking up one morning and I opened my eyes to find one of those cockroach things on my pillow just looking at me. I have never moved so fast in all my life!
The ants of course were after our night duty rations! Remember them?……just in case you were likely to starve on night duty, we were issued with soup x 2 tins (assorted varieties), cream crackers x 1 packet, cheese triangles x 1 packet and sweet plain biscuits x 1 packet. Unless you had an airtight tin in your room, it was an open invitation to the ants!
The rooms in the Spiders were not very big but I was lucky to have the first room in the corridor which was bigger than all the others. The only problem with this was that it was the nearest room to the stairs which were wooden and had no carpet, hence the noisiest room. Everything was wooden – the walls, the floors, the roof, and the building echoed with the noise!! As for sleeping on night duty, let’s just say that the night duty rations came in handy! Well, you had to do something while listening to the squirrels on the roof, the regular grass cutting immediately outside your window and the doors banging from within.
My room was also the first room in the corridor to be subject to “bed check” every night when we were in PTS (Preliminary Training School). This bed check took place around 22.30hrs when the duty Officer and duty NCO came around and knocked on your door to ensure you were safely tucked up for the night. Of course, as soon as bed check was complete, those who wanted to go out, did so! I never did as I was too scared to disobey orders! If the gate was locked, no problem, as there was a convenient hole in the wire fence.
I lived in the second Spider on the left at the bottom of the steps. I cannot remember if this was F Spider or G Spider but whichever one it was, the first Spider at the bottom of the steps is where the only television, sitting room and phone were so we all spent most of our off duty time in that Spider which was a hive of activity. On one hand it was very noisy and you never got to watch the programme on television you wanted (we only had the choice of three programmes back then), but on the other hand it was lively and great fun.
The only telephone was attached to the wall just outside the sitting room and to get to the sitting room, you had to pass whoever was on the phone. If a call came in for someone, it was usually answered by whoever was in the sitting room at the time. If the intended recipient of the call, was not immediately there, the person who answered the call would often run to fetch that person for their call even if this meant running down the road to the next Spider! Sometimes however, if the intended recipient was not present, the caller was just told to ring back later. It made sense to plan calls in advance which was all very well so long as there was no-one else on the phone at that time. Remember, we didn’t have mobile phones in the 70’s.
The walls in the Spiders were very thin and although there was a door to the sitting room, this telephone was not the place for private calls – you definitely couldn’t have that cosy chat with a boyfriend, without everyone knowing about it! Most of the time this was a bit of a nuisance however, I remember a time in December 1974 when this lack of privacy came to my aid. It was in the evening and the sitting room was busy when I took a call from home and it was bad news. I ended up sobbing on the phone. The minute I put the phone down, the door opened and I was engulfed in a giant hug from my friends and colleagues. They didn’t know exactly why I was upset, just that I was. They got me through that evening.
Yes, the Spiders were noisy, draughty, and full of unwelcome visitors, but they were also full of fun, laughter and friendship. When I reflect on it all these years later, I know I would rather spend a year living in the Spiders with all its drawbacks than the few months I spent living in the brand new, purpose built, insect free accommodation at the QEMH where I rarely saw or heard anyone from one shift to the next.
So, did you live in the Spiders? Did you sneak out after bed check? I would love to hear your stories.
Eileen Nolan
1974 - 1978
It wasn’t so much the actual real live spiders I minded – they eat flies after all, but I was more concerned about the hard-shelled cockroaches which ran about the floor, the occasional field mouse which came in out of the cold, the ants and the squirrels which held a barn dance on the roof every day when you were trying to sleep after night duty! I clearly remember waking up one morning and I opened my eyes to find one of those cockroach things on my pillow just looking at me. I have never moved so fast in all my life!
The ants of course were after our night duty rations! Remember them?……just in case you were likely to starve on night duty, we were issued with soup x 2 tins (assorted varieties), cream crackers x 1 packet, cheese triangles x 1 packet and sweet plain biscuits x 1 packet. Unless you had an airtight tin in your room, it was an open invitation to the ants!
The rooms in the Spiders were not very big but I was lucky to have the first room in the corridor which was bigger than all the others. The only problem with this was that it was the nearest room to the stairs which were wooden and had no carpet, hence the noisiest room. Everything was wooden – the walls, the floors, the roof, and the building echoed with the noise!! As for sleeping on night duty, let’s just say that the night duty rations came in handy! Well, you had to do something while listening to the squirrels on the roof, the regular grass cutting immediately outside your window and the doors banging from within.
My room was also the first room in the corridor to be subject to “bed check” every night when we were in PTS (Preliminary Training School). This bed check took place around 22.30hrs when the duty Officer and duty NCO came around and knocked on your door to ensure you were safely tucked up for the night. Of course, as soon as bed check was complete, those who wanted to go out, did so! I never did as I was too scared to disobey orders! If the gate was locked, no problem, as there was a convenient hole in the wire fence.
I lived in the second Spider on the left at the bottom of the steps. I cannot remember if this was F Spider or G Spider but whichever one it was, the first Spider at the bottom of the steps is where the only television, sitting room and phone were so we all spent most of our off duty time in that Spider which was a hive of activity. On one hand it was very noisy and you never got to watch the programme on television you wanted (we only had the choice of three programmes back then), but on the other hand it was lively and great fun.
The only telephone was attached to the wall just outside the sitting room and to get to the sitting room, you had to pass whoever was on the phone. If a call came in for someone, it was usually answered by whoever was in the sitting room at the time. If the intended recipient of the call, was not immediately there, the person who answered the call would often run to fetch that person for their call even if this meant running down the road to the next Spider! Sometimes however, if the intended recipient was not present, the caller was just told to ring back later. It made sense to plan calls in advance which was all very well so long as there was no-one else on the phone at that time. Remember, we didn’t have mobile phones in the 70’s.
The walls in the Spiders were very thin and although there was a door to the sitting room, this telephone was not the place for private calls – you definitely couldn’t have that cosy chat with a boyfriend, without everyone knowing about it! Most of the time this was a bit of a nuisance however, I remember a time in December 1974 when this lack of privacy came to my aid. It was in the evening and the sitting room was busy when I took a call from home and it was bad news. I ended up sobbing on the phone. The minute I put the phone down, the door opened and I was engulfed in a giant hug from my friends and colleagues. They didn’t know exactly why I was upset, just that I was. They got me through that evening.
Yes, the Spiders were noisy, draughty, and full of unwelcome visitors, but they were also full of fun, laughter and friendship. When I reflect on it all these years later, I know I would rather spend a year living in the Spiders with all its drawbacks than the few months I spent living in the brand new, purpose built, insect free accommodation at the QEMH where I rarely saw or heard anyone from one shift to the next.
So, did you live in the Spiders? Did you sneak out after bed check? I would love to hear your stories.
Eileen Nolan
1974 - 1978
