1983 revisited

The Main 1829 Building which had changed very little when I started my training
(On my very first shift I remember walking through the main entrance which led into the dormitory of a long stay ward called Acton.....)

I completed my Psychiatric Nurse Training way back in 1986 when I was just 24.
The times then were changing....the asylum was more or less a thing of the past and the huge, self contained Hospitals , such as the Deva Hospital on the outskirts of Chester already had started to shed its populations of institutionalized patients and staff back into the community.
Our nursing group (Known as Sep 83) was a small one. It comprised of only 7 students, all of us overseen by an inspirational tutor, the fey,camp and greatly respected Leslie Brint.

The class of '83.  From left to right Me, Sandra, Steven, Mr Brint, Paula, Noirin and Mike
Judith was in the Isle Of Man when this photo was taken

 During our training, not only did I became close to the scousers of the group ( the warm and laid back Sandra, foul mouthed comic Paula and heart throb Mike) but to the group's "baby", a country girl from the Isle of Man called Judith, who was still in  her teens.


Big hearted and a  little naive ,Judith blossomed in nursing residence life, and after we all qualified and went our separate ways, we always kept in touch, in that sporadic, erratic way, old friends sometimes have a tendency to do.


Its been nearly ten years since we met up. A  brief comment on my blog the other day rekindled our friendship, as Judith said she was staying over on the  Wirral. for a few weeks and could I meet up with her at some stage.
The message and subsequent email was chatty and bouncy enough, but being a nurse, I suspected rightly as it turned out that Judith was over from the Isle of Man to attend treatment over at Clatterbridge's Oncology Hospital., one of the leading cancer centres in the UK
I know it sounds a little selfish, but with losing Constance on Sunday and looking after my brother all day Tuesday, the prospect of meeting up with Judith today filled me with some ambivalence, but as it turned out,our meeting was filled with gossip, laughter and 25 years of catch ups

I picked her up from Clatterbridge Hospital and we drove to the picturesque  Parkgate village on the Dee Estuary.,a place that we used to take patients out for the day, when we were student nurses.
We ate ice cream, walked the length of the Promenade , talked and laughed and talked some more.
I am a year off being 50 and I felt as though I was 21 again!