"Don't forget, nurse, no running except for fire": remembering Mildmay in 1955
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
When Pam W. arrived at Mildmay in October 1955 as part of Set 360, she was one of six student nurses beginning a three-year SRN training that would take her across three hospitals and several addresses in east London.
Seventy years later, Pam generously shared her story with us, and her memories of Mildmay remain clear, affectionate, and full of detail that tells you exactly what kind of place this was.
Pam and her fellow students lived away from the hospital - accommodation at Mildmay was limited - first in rooms at a vicarage near Shoreditch Church, where they slept but had to return to Mildmay for every meal. Later they moved to a hostel in Hoxton, a grey concrete building with individual rooms and the sounds of local life outside. Children playing with hula hoops in the street. Joss sticks on the stairway windowsills. Eventually, a move to Kingston Hospital, which felt luxurious by comparison.
The wards were nothing like today. Bible texts were painted on the walls behind each bed. Rows of beds ran either side of a long central table, with linen stored in cupboards underneath and the night nurse at one end with a lamp. Each morning began with prayers on the ward. Each day brought a fresh apron, sometimes used as a notepad when no paper was to hand.
The phrase she says remains most firmly fixed in her memory came from Matron:
"Don't forget, nurse — no running except for fire."
Or Matron.
Pam is one of three members of Set 360 who completed the full training. The group still keep in touch, through letters and regular reunion meals. Her story is now part of our Staff Stories archive, a record of the people who have made Mildmay what it is, across the decades.
Read Pam's story in full:
Mildmay has been caring for people in east London and beyond for over 160 years. If you'd like to support our work today, find out more at mildmay.org/donate.
