Page 18 - QARANC Vol 14 No 6 2013

16 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Joining The Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps – 1965
When I was at Secondary School there came a time when I had to make my mind up as to what I wished to do when I left school. Those days were very different to today, it was possible to walk out of school and there were many job opportunities available to us unlike today. Where I lived was a small town in the Cotton Mill County of Lancashire.
Somewhere along the way the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) had been mentioned to me and it became very important for me to join. At 16, I had to try and get employment to earn some money as my parents were very good but quite poor and it often amazed me that I had the temerity to think of leaving home at all.
I did try and apply to do Nursing in the NHS where I lived but they would not take me to train a s a nurse as I had told them that I fully intended to join the Army. I worked in a bookshop until I could apply. I had a medical and was told that I would have to put on half a stone before I could join. This was not easy for me as I did not have a sweet tooth but I did manage eventually to do it.
What an eye-opener, obviously I had lived a very quiet and secluded life up until then. In those days most of us were ‘good’ girls unlike what I see today it is my opinion that young women today are not doing themselves any favours. I suppose that is very old fashioned view but I still think that and always will. To join an Army situation
was a real shock to the system. We had very good people in charge and knew exactly what was expected of us. It was a vey good system and we were taught well. There were many military topics we had to learn and that was done even before Nurse Training began. I made some great friends and I am still in touch with a couple of them even after forty years.
What I explain about life today will be quite unbelievable to youngsters today, but then it was our era and things were very different. I suppose looking back I was very naive I think most of us where compared to girls today, but we certainly learned quickly.
We had trips to all sorts of educational areas, including a sewage farm and a hospital dealing with Thalidomide babies in Carshalton (this upset our drill instructor tremendously. Eventually we started work at the Cambridge Military Hospital Aldershot to start Nurse Training. We were certainly well trained and I think today’s Nurses would be surprised at the standards we attained so quickly.
We were transferred to the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) Germany. We even then in the 60’s were an Occupation Force. I was very nervous as we arrived as it was the first time I had been out of the United Kingdom. I must say that it was a very rewarding experience but there was still so much to learn. We had been posted to British Military Hospital (BMH) Munster. It was very useful when going into the town of Munster to be able to understand basic
important phrases, but I learned. I actually felt happy to be there some did not and never went out into Munster. We had a small NAAFI at the back of he hospital and socialised there to some extent. Our accommodation was a flat situated over a German pub, not easy to sleep in the day whilst on night duty. Munster was a wonderful time when my friends and I eventually settled into a routine.
It was in Munster that I met and married my Husband; he was serving with his Regiment in Munster too. I sadly had to leave the QARANC and give up my nursing as it was not acceptable to remain in the QARANC being married as it is now. We were married in an Ex- Gestapo Headquarters and have been married for 44 years. I did carry on nursing wherever I could. I eventually took a job as a Phlebotomist in my local hospital until I was diagnosed with MS a few years ago. Now, women are able to do much more than we could do in my day and women are now recognised for their abilities – thank heavens. In fact if I remember correctly we were one of the first sets of Army Nurses to be used in our Occupation of Germany after the Second World War. The QARANC have been military nurses after Florence Nightingale worked as a nurse in the Crimean War.
I would encourage any young women with thoughts of nursing as a vocation that life as a QA is excellent. Mrs K A Roberts
Q1005849
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