MEMORIES OF THE NURSING OFFICER VEIL By The Jurassic Coast Branch Members

 

The history of the nursing veil can be traced back to the early Christian era when deaconesses, who cared for the sick, were distinguished from others by wearing a white covering on their heads. During Victorian times women in service wore white caps and different styles were developed for nurses to distinguish them from servants. The veil was popular as it covered the hair for neatness and hygiene. Female nursing officers wore the veil with those in the ranks wearing a short cap until 2003/4, when QA’s moved into tunic and trousers and nursing head-dress was abolished. 

To prepare the veil, a large white piece of white cotton with an embroidered red QA emblem at the back, was usually starched with Dip and laid out flat, to dry on a board. The veil was gently peeled off ready to be pressed and shaped into the veil.  

Jan Westbury 

STORIES OF THE VEIL

1. THE SHREDDED VEIL By Dot Ritchie 

As a student nurse in the 60's at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, I wore a butterfly cap. When I joined the QARANC in 1972 I was used to starching and ironing veils so did not use the large pieces of thick plastic or the back of room doors that most other Sisters used. 

I was stationed in Belfast in 1973 where Major Joan Pease was Matron. One day I was in the laundry room of the Mess doing my ironing when Matron came in to get her veil off the plastic. Suddenly, there was a shout from Matron. I looked up to see Matron pulling her veil off in shreds! It was so thin that it tore into strips. After a few seconds, we both burst out laughing. 

The moral to this story is, just iron your veil and it will not end up shredded! 

2. YOUR VEIL IS A DISGRACE! By Merrill Bate

Picture the scene at The Gun Hill QARANC Nursing Officers Mess at the Cambridge Military Hospital (CMH) in Aldershot one weekday lunchtime. It was a requirement that on entering the Mess you removed your veil and left it on a shelf in a cloakroom before having lunch in the Dining Room. On this occasion Matron had obviously decided to cast a critical eye over the quality and state of disrepair of the veils that had been deposited by QAs having lunch. One veil had clearly met with Matron’s disapproval and she left a handwritten note saying:

This veil is an absolute disgrace. You must replace is with a clean and properly made veil immediately. Matron

When Pat McKay and I left the Ante-Room to return to work after lunch we went to collect our veils and saw Matron’s note discarded on the shelf. There was no evidence of the veil which had clearly upset Matron. Presumably the guilty Nursing Officer had either scurried back to her room to find a new veil or returned to work wearing the less than perfect veil.

The note provided us with an opportunity! A number of newly commissioned Nursing Officers fresh from the QA Training Centre had arrived at CMH. One of these QAs had left her beautifully made and very new veil on the shelf. Pat and I decided she would be our victim and left Matron’s note on her veil.

I cannot recount what happened next because by the time the poor QA went to retrieve her veil I was safely back in the School of Nursing and Pat was working in the Operating Theatres. Did she in a confused state return to her room to get a new veil forever puzzled as to why she incurred Matron’s displeasure and what happened to the note? We will never know.

3. JUST LIKE THE OLD DAYS By Merrill Bate

In 1981/1982 I was on the held strength of the QA Training Centre whilst I undertook my Registered Clinical Nurse Teachers (RCNT) course at Suffolk College in Ipswich. I was accommodated in the Garrison Officers Mess in Colchester. To qualify as a RCNT I had to spend periods of time in clinical practice and was allocated to work in the School of Nursing at Colchester Hospital.

The only uniform I had was my QARANC ward dress and my supervising Tutor thought it would be a good idea for me to wear it on the wards. The lady who looked after me, and a PMRAFNS Nursing Officer in the male dominated Mess, spotted my uniform in the laundry room and excitedly greeted me one morning asking if she could look after my uniform whilst I was working at the Hospital. She explained that when there had been QAs in Colchester she had looked after their uniforms and to look after mine would be ‘just like the old days’. So, over the next 6 months I had my very own ‘batting lady’ who polished my shoes, washed and pressed my uniforms and most importantly washed, starched and shaped my veils. She took so much pleasure in looking after a QA’s uniform that on my departure she presented me with 6 beautifully made veils. I stored one of these veils flat in a large plastic bag just in case I ever needed it for something important; I wore it when I represented the QAs at the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance in 1984. 

4. VEIL INCIDENT AT THE QATC 1976 By Pat McKay

I arrived as a newly commissioned officer at the QATC on 5 July 1976 and was introduced to the mysteries of how to starch a veil by members of the permanent staff. Most people I joined with had never worn a head dress like it, so when the suggestion was made that the best flat surface to use when starching a veil was one’s room window, most took up the suggestion and consequently a row of windows at the QATC now had a veil applied to it.

Colonel (later Brigadier) Moriarty was the Training Centre Commandant and lived in the bungalow just along from the front door to the Officers Mess. On a beautiful summer evening she walked down from her accommodation with the most pained expression on her face to inspect what these new officers had done to her ‘Training Centre’. She described it as looking ‘like a Chinese laundry’.

Needless to say, the offending items were removed at the earliest opportunity and an alternative flat surface was found to starch our veils on.

Here ends the Veil Incident at the QATC.!!!! 

Contributors: 
Capt (Retd) Jan Westbury TAVR & Regular Service 1986 - 1992
Lt Col (Retd) Merrill Bate ARRC 1980-2002
Major [Retd] Pat McKay ARRC Branch Secretary Served 1976 - 1996
Major (Retd) Dot Ritchie Regular service 1972 to 1980 TAVR 1980 to 2003

Rhinos, Tigers and Unexpected Encounters - by Wendy H. Jones

 

You're probably wondering what tigers and rhinos have to do with the QARANC? Quite a lot as it happens - in this tale anyway. I was very fortunate to be posted to Hong Kong whilst in the Corps and I was even more fortunate to spend a couple of weeks in Nepal. This involved the obligatory jungle trip to see if I could score a tiger sighting. The first day, we went in a jeep. No tiger. The second day, we went on an elephant. No tiger sighting. The elephant riding  was rather fabulous though. The third day we did it differently, which led to an adventure like I'd never had before and, trust me, I never want again. Here it is in story format. Names have been changed to protect the innocent but everything else is true. 

“Great day for a tiger hunt,” said Danny.

I had to agree with this. Not the hunt part of course. “Don’t be so dramatic. We’re only going to take photo’s of them.” In the jungle. On Foot. Best not to think too hard about that.

Buttery yellow sun shone from a cerulean sky as we crossed a wide, yet quiet, river in a canoe. Reaching the opposite bank we swapped the sunlight for the dark canopy of the jungle. “Do you think this was such a good idea, Danny? I think I’ve changed my mind.”

“Don’t be such a woose.” So I followed the Sherpa, each step measured and quiet. I didn’t want to disturb the natives. I didn’t even want to think about the natives or what they could do to us. The natives being the wild animals who called the jungle home. The Sherpa’s voice stopped us. “Complete silence. Stay behind tree. Mating Rhinos.” There were indeed a couple of rhinos ahead, oblivious to the audience to their enthusiastic, amorous adventures.

“If notice you are going up tree.” That was reassuring. I mentally assessed my tree climbing skills.

“I know we’re in the jungle Danny, but it seems to be getting darker.”

Danny, a farmer in real life, said, “There’s a storm brewing. Look at those trees.”

Said Trees, still just a moment before, were now bending in prayer to the storm God. As the heavy tropical rain started the guide said “Hurricane. Out of jungle” and he was off like a startled gazelle, leaving us all behind.

Thoughts of tigers and Rhinos trying to find safety from the trees propelled my feet. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.” We ran as the storm chased us.

“The guide’s taken the blasted canoe.” I was frantic as I looked at the river in front of us, now a raging torrent. “We can’t get across that.”

“We have to. It’s that or wild animals.”

I said a quick prayer, and launched my 5’ frame into the water.

“Keep hold of me. We’ll make it together.” I was grateful for Danny’s 5’ 10 of solid muscle. Somehow we struggled through the water to reach the bank on the other side. I collapsed, oblivious to the rain battering me from every direction.

Danny pulled me up. “We can’t stop. We’ve got to get back to camp.”

“I can’t do it Danny.”

“Yes you can. There’s a dry hut waiting.”

Somehow I managed to put one foot in front of the other. How I still don’t know. However, the dangers weren’t over. We still had to navigate a small wood. The wind uprooted trees, which toppled either side of us, as fear gave wings to our feet. If this was a BFT I'd be finished before I started. 

That mud hut, when I saw it, held more comfort than any five star hotel. I was rather glad, on this particular occasion, I didn’t come face to face with that tiger. 

I write this to show that nursing in the Army was so much more than bedpans, exercises and operational tours. It was fun, it was exciting and most of all it was completely unexpected. It was a grand life indeed

I'm curious, what has been the most exciting thing that has happened unexpectedly in your life. 

As a postscript, you may be wondering if I am the only person writing for this blog. Absolutely not. There will be a wide range of posts and views, I'm just standing in this week and normal service will be resumed next week. 

About the Writer

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.   

Why Jurassic Coast? - by Marjorie Bandy and Pat McKay

On the South Coast originally was the Bournemouth Branch which after many years had run its course eventually leading to branch closure. Three of the members who were left, Marjorie, Pat and Dot decided to explore the possibility of forming a new branch. We contacted everyone we know in the area and this contact list was boosted by the enthusiasm of the late Pauline Nowak who seemed to be in contact with everyone! Consequently a “tester” meeting and fish and chips lunch was held at the Lobster Pot besides the Portland Bill lighthouse. We were delighted to welcome 17 ex QA’s including Mary Gardiner and Eveline Duff both well into their 90’s.

At the lunch everyone agreed that it was worth going forward with our plan. The name of the new branch was obvious as we were sitting right on the Jurassic Coast. Pat immediately christened us the Old Fossils!! Pauline came back straight away with Dynamic Dinosaurs. Boosted by this success we applied to RHQ to open a new branch. The inaugural meeting took place on 21st January 2012 at the Red Lion Salisbury. As this was the first new branch in a very long time the then Director Colonel Peter Childerley joined us for lunch.

Our philosophy has always been “you join an association not just a branch” and to that end we have welcomed members from branches across the UK to our various events. We have also welcomed partners and friends to join us on our jollies.

Since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic the branch has enthusiastically embraced a new kind of drinks party thanks to Zoom, [ we previously thought that this was the first line of a children’s nursery rhyme.] On Saturday evenings we have been enthralled by the variety of adventures that some of our Dynamic Dinosaurs have undertaken. This has led to our perceived need for a Branch BLOG. Few of us keep diaries these days and experiences since the end of WW2 are likely to go unrecorded. This is your platform fellow association members, to record all those seemingly ordinary events during your service, which civilians could not comprehend as “an ordinary day.” We look forward to reading your stories.



Lt Col [Retd] Marjorie Bandy RRC Branch Chairman Served 1975 – 2003

Major [Retd] Pat McKay ARRC Branch Secretary Served 1976 - 1996