Part 4 - A Leap into a new Future - 1987-1988

Part 4

A LEAP OF FAITH INTO A NEW FUTURE

1987-1988

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IT IS NOW 1987

And I am living in Wales, and learning what "Being Welsh" was all about. Wales was a very different place to Camberwell in South London. Carmarthen was a pretty market town in South Wales, and Jan and I were living in nice new 2 bedroomed semi detached half way up the south facing hill. 

Tom went to Nursery and School, and my Mother passed away. Jan and my little son were my Family now.

A new house - 19 Bryn Gorwel

It was a short drive to the city centre, and the covered market with its diversity of rural goods. Carmarthen was filled with a mix of people, Welsh accents abounded, and some many spoke Welsh. There were the young and old, Hippies and Farmers, Shopkeepers and Factory Workers, Doctors and Nurses, a great mix of people as would be found anywhere side by side  - all living surrounded the lush green Towy Valley. 

And there was Glangwilli District General Hospital ITU. A newly fitted unit. And I was working there, fresh from the major trauma unit at Kings and having completed the ENB100 Intensive Care course. The equipment and beds were state of the art, the level of clinical expertise below the standard I was used to. It was all a bit of a shock. 

There were many patients, many families. A joy to see so many recover, a sadness to see some pass. I quickly discovered that I was now becoming a senior staff nurse, with many of my colleagues turning to me and asking for advice. 

The trials of Off Duty, Child Care and Income was met by Jan doing Bank work. Jan found herself working across Carmarthen in a variety of care settings. We were ships passing in the night as we were in London.   

Again, despite my vow to never do any more "Education" I applied for a 3 year Diploma in Nursing a the Swansea Institute in Mount Pleasant. Janet Skiffins was an inspiration and eccentric course leader, Colin Rees a teacher who opened the world of theoretical humanities to me, and the formidable Susan Jordan taught Anatomy  Physiology to a personal new depth. Ironically, many years later when I was to be a leader of a University Department, Dr Jordan would be a key member of my senior research staff.   I do believe that the Diploma in Nursing finally jump started my academic ability - I began to thing critically for the 1st time and learned to write fluently.  My Brain began to work!!!

I had new new friends, from work and college. I was making new connections, and developing new networks.....

And now a new son burst into my world - Sam. Little Sam was a lovely baby, and he brought new light into my life. Later in his life he would be beset with many problems - but of that I will come to later.

In 1987

The Worlds Population reaches 5 billion

Margaret Thatcher was re-elected (again!!)

Condom commercials began to appear on TV for the first time.

The Kings Cross Fire resulted in 31 deaths

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IT IS NOW 1988

I was not happy that my future career was going anywhere in Glangwilli ITU. It was a district general hospital in a rural area that had a low key aspiration. Fate took a hand and one afternoon whilst we browsed in WHSmith Jan noticed a job advert in the Nursing Times for Staff Nurses in Morriston ITU. I had applied to this large major ITU previously whilst still living in London and not been accepted. But now I was in Wales AND was ITU Trained. 

I was offered an interview and low and behold I was offered a place - and with their agreement that they would support my studies on the Diploma. I remember so well doing nights in this Unit, and writing essays for the diploma at the Nurses Station at 3 in the morning between hourly Obs and Interventions whilst my colleagues did their knitting.

 Morriston Hospital was a large major trauma centre offering a range of specialities. Capital funding was being lavished on new buildings, estate and services. It was large then - today it a vast major Welsh Hospital  on par with any in the UK.

Morriston ITU had 8 Critical Care beds when I worked there full time. Even after I left I continued with Bank Shifts, and watched it evolve to a 40 Bed Unit. 

Run by Intensivists, with a huge establishment of Nurses, it was what I had been more familiar with. As always there were many patients and families. As always there were triumphs and disasters. I worked side by side with my Welsh colleagues, caring for one and all who came through the door regardless of race, colour or creed. 

There were memorable moments that have lived with me ever since. We fought hard one afternoon to save a child of 4 years. We failed. We arranged the bed area in clean white sheets, we lay flowers on the bed. The Mother came in for her last cuddle, sitting in the comfy chair we provided. I gently passed the limp little figure to her. We all wept. Later I carried the little bundle over shoulder to the morgue, Swaddled and wrapped - no one could have guessed what passed them. 3 years later the Mother became a student Nurse, inspired by what she had seen and using her enduring grief as a positive way forward.

A Nurse can tell you stories like that all night long. It is time to move on...

Our family had grown - 2 sons now in a 2 Bedroomed House in Carmarthen. The drive everyday to Swansea was tiresome. It was time to move again. We searched, and a new House was found in Swansea - 106 Gwelfor. We moved to this house just before Christmas in 1988. It is where I have lived for the rest of my life.

Tom is now 5 years old and is in Dunvant's Infants School, Sam is nearly 2 years old and is very busy and growing fast...

I have completed the Diploma successfully just short of a Distinction. The Off Duty rolls on interminably. And I am increasingly frustrated and I want more, but don't know what that "more" is. I apply for a Charge Nurse post but don't get it - now in the all to familiar "queue" for promotion.

Do you know I cannot remember who suggested that I go to the School of Nursing to get career advice. But that is what I did. The West Glamorgan School og Nursing - Morriston Campus - a decrepit old building from the 1940s. And there I met Mary Ladd - the lead on Post Registration Modules. We talked - she looked at me - "have you ever thought about becoming a Nurse Teacher?". I was stunned into silence - "Errr - No - is that possible for a Staff Nurse?". 

And so I went away and reflected... And before I knew it I was being interviewed by John Evans  - Director of Nurse Education (DNE). And he offered me a job as an "Unqualified Nurse Teacher". What was I to do - I accepted .......

It was a leap into the Unknown that I could hardly have expected - that defined my future. I was to be a NURSE TEACHER !!!!!!! And from that moment my life was altered forever. Ahead lay a long path through the world of Education, Teaching and Academia. I would become a well known figure in the world of nursing - and my family would grow up. And of these, the triumphs and disasters I will, by stages, tell more....

In 1988

Laws restricting opening times for UK Pubs are changed allowing Pubs to stay open all day

The English Pound Note ceases to be legal Tender

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