Page 49 - QARANC Vol 17 No 1 2019

Anne Hall 1922 – 2018
Anne was born and raised in Port Talbot and was the fifth child of six children. Some of her childhood experiences had a profound effect upon her life and future relationships when she became an adult.
When Anne left school, she trained to be a nurse at Penrhiwtyn Hospital near Neath and made friends there which she kept all her life.
Towards the end of the war she joined QAIMNS and was sent to India, Egypt and Greece to nurse injured soldiers. She remained committed to her nursing career and later in life worked as a night sister in several hospitals. It was in Greece that she met her husband Peter and they married in 1949. They had three children, Susan, Christopher and Nicola and also adopted another
daughter Janet. Anne and Peter moved house regularly during their married life, living mainly in Surrey and Durham. They also lived abroad in Africa and Sarawak. Anne loved living abroad and had many happy memories to treasure.
Later in her life Anne lived in West Wales and enjoyed retirement with her husband and a large number of dogs. She set up the local branch of the Red Cross organisation teaching children first aid. She finally moved to Pencoed in the mid-1980s. It was here that Peter died and she was widowed for 25 years before her own death.
She had a lifelong love of horses and dogs and will be remembered for her happy sociable ways.
When health problems eventually meant she could no longer live
Anne Hall as a young QA in 1942
independently she moved to Danygraig Care Home in Porthcawl where she sadly died.
Major (Retd) Rosy Hubbard Secretary, Welsh Branch
THE GAZETTE QARANC 47
Novello Morgan 1931 – 2018
Margaret Novello Morgan was born on 31 May 1931 in Onllwyn to Mel and Job Morgan and was one of six children. Novello was a happy child, and shared many happy memories of her time growing up, surrounded by her family. She went to school in Onllwyn and then Neath before beginning her nursing training in Swansea, and became a staff nurse in Singleton Hospital. Novello completed her midwifery part 1 training at Guys Hospital in London, before completing it at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. After this she became a holiday relief midwife in Singleton Hospital.
In 1957 she joined the Army. Her army nursing career took her all over the world: Nairobi, Mauritius, Germany, and Singapore. Towards the end of her army career, she was involved with midwifery recruiting and administration. She became a Lieutenant Colonel, but never took up a post as she took voluntary retirement in 1975, when she returned home to help care for her mother.
Retirement didn’t mean putting her feet up though. Novello became a Justice of the Peace for many years. She was always active and had a wide variety of interests. She loved collecting antiques, especially fairings, and made an acknowledged contribution in a book on them. She loved singing, and sang in a local choir, even singing with it at the Royal Albert Hall once; she also enjoyed dancing. Novello’s love of children never left her. If you had a baby, she had to hold it and give it the once over.
More recently, Novello was part of several community groups, including the WI, OWLS, and she loved going on all the Old Age trips with her sister Joan. Novello simply enjoyed spending her time with others. Just a couple of years ago, she joined a Welsh language learning group in the Dove. When her niece pointed out ‘but you’re a Welsh speaker’, she smiled and said ‘I know, but they don’t know that and I like the company’.
Novello wrote everything down, and she has left her family with lots to read about all her experiences. One of her books is a book of inspirational quotes. Each of them reveals and
Novello pictured outside her home
sums up her personality and feelings perfectly. Novello had a fulfilling and active life, and at the centre of it was her family - loved, doted on, and she was very proud of them all.
Novello may have come across as tough, but deep down, she was like a chocolate with a soft centre. One of the quotes that she had written in her book said this: ‘If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours; that really sums up Novello. She would do anything for anyone. Novello was also quite the philanthropist; she gave to any cause that she thought was important.
Novello was one of life’s characters, and she lived an incredible life; it is only fitting to end with some of her own words; a quote taken from her book. ‘To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die’.
Reverend Liz Rees, Family Vicar
Edited by Diana McCrea (nee Craigie) Vice Chair Welsh Branch