Page 12 - QARANC Vol 18 No 2 2020

10 The Gazette QARANC Association
Book Review
In the Footsteps of Florence
Nightingale: Memoirs of a QA
by Margaret Thomas
Margaret Thomas ARRC was a Major in the Corps between 1955 and 1972. Her book is the story of her life as an Army nurse, and relates her experiences in a variety of postings around the world. The book came out of a series of talks she gave to her local Women’s Institute in 1983. She later expanded the talks and they became an account of her military life.
Margaret served in the QAs for sixteen years starting out at Hindhead in 1955 to undertake officer training. She had joined up despite opposition from her parents, but her account pays testament to a successful career, and she was awarded the ARRC for her service as Women’s Services Liaison Officer at Western Command based in Chester.
Margaret’s book is interesting to read. It seems a faithful account of her
service, and adds to the ever growing, but still woefully small, collection of personal accounts of nursing life in the military. Not many nurses write about their time in the QAs, and many feel their story is ordinary and nothing special, as they weren’t involved in conflict. Often we hear words such as ‘I was only doing my job’, or ‘I didn’t do anything exciting’, so we should be encouraged by Margaret’s book to write our own accounts, however small and insignificant they might seem to us.
Margaret’s book has been previously privately published as ‘Memories of the QAs’. This new version has been updated and the book has been arranged in a more formal chapter format, which makes for an easier read. A selection of black and white photos illustrates aspects of her postings and culminates in a lovely
Old and new versions of Margaret’s book
picture of Margaret with her husband and mother outside Buckingham Palace after receiving her ARRC. The cover photograph is colourised - unfortunately the collar of her grey ward dress is depicted as white!
Margaret - thank you for your service and dedication. Your book serves as an inspiration to us all to write down our memories.
Alison Spires Editor
In the footsteps of Florence Nightingale. Memoirs of a QA by Margaret Thomas. (2020) Published by Dollarbird an imprint of Monsoon Books Ltd. ISBN (paperback) 978-1-912049-64-6; ISBN (ebook) 978-1-912049-65-3
London Poppy Selling: 5 November 2019
With a polished Sam Browne and a peak cap firmly in place I made my way to the train station to travel to London Waterloo Station. On arrival, I made my way to the meeting point under the large clock in the centre of Waterloo Station. I could already see a group of other military personnel from all three services; Army, Navy and RAF, so headed over and introduced myself.
We were greeted and briefed by one of the military media representatives and were informed that the purpose of the day was to sell poppies to the general public and also integrate with the stars and professional dancers from BBCs Strictly Come Dancing.
We were all given a poppy selling box full to the brim with bright red poppies and a collection bucket to receive generous donations from the public. As soon as I placed my poppy box around my neck,
members of the public started approaching me with coins and notes to donate to the poppy appeal.
We were lucky enough to meet a variety of celebrities and professional dancers - the military media representatives were also encouraging us to get interviewed by the BBC and have professional photographs with them. I managed to get some of my own photos as I knew my friends and family would be very jealous.
We sold many poppies, danced with the stars and chatted with members of the public for two hours and throughout this time we were being filmed by the BBC and meeting lots of new faces. I was sad to finish as it was such a good day and such a great opportunity. My collection bucket was extremely heavy when I handed it in to the charity representatives.
The footage from this day was used on the Strictly Come Dancing Remembrance Special shown on the 10 November and I was lucky enough to feature in a small section of the VT, representing not only the Army but 243 Field Hospital.
Lieutenant Samantha Gardiner D Detachment, 243 Field Hospital