THE WAY WE CARED
OVER the next six weeks, this special collectable photo series will explore what it was like to live, work and play in the East Midlands, from the 19th century to more recent decades.
Faces, places and moments in history are frozen in time in our unique picture archives, and putting this series together has turned up many images that haven’t been seen since the first time they were used in our pages. Through them, we want to tell the stories of our communities, through good times and bad. Stories that show the long legacy of caring that we see continued today in the dedication and sacrifice of our NHS heroes.
Stories of familiar street scenes that show how much has changed in our neighbourhoods - and how much has not.
Stories of the fads and fashions, the music we listened to and the clothes we wore.
Each week we will look at a different aspect of life in the East Midlands over the years, focusing on themes as varied as fashion, the workplace, family life and transport.
Don’t miss your chance every Tuesday over the next six weeks to complete your own Memory Lane 96-page souvenir edition that you can look at time and time again.
To ensure you don’t miss out, go to newspapersubs.co.uk/btm where you’ll find details on how you can get the Burton Mail delivered directly to your door or reserved by your newsagent. You can also order your own high-quality photographic print copy of any picture you see in these pages, to find out more, visit www.mirrorpix.com
And as if this wasn’t enough, don’t forget to check out www.memorylane.co.uk, the UK’S new website, packed full of amazing pictures and memories from years gone by.
We hope you enjoy reading Memory Lane as much as we’ve had fun finding these great images and putting it all together!
Prince Charles meets staff at the Derby Royal Infirmary in the aftermath of the Kegworth air disaster, when a Boeing 737-400 crashed on an embankment by the M1 near East Midlands Airport, killing 47 people in January 1989.
Meanwhile, the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Coun Martin Suthers, and the Sherrif, Coun Brian Marshall, visited staff at Nottingham’s QMC following the disaster. Pictured are, from left, Roderick Cable (charge nkuergsew),osristtherns Pgaynor Marshall and Tkheegrweosartmh oauilrdderi,sansdtecr.onsultants Ltyhnejlaorrrdetmt,adyroar onfdrew Dove and Dr Shiuraj Dave, Coun Suthers and Coun Marshall.
It was an all together happier occasion when these Nottingham City Hospital nurses were visited by the Duchess of Gloucester as she opened the new twin operating theatre suite in 1954.
In 1968, it was a former matron, Miss Gertud Traub, who was the special guest as she given the honour of laying the foundation stone of the new maternity hospital at Leicester Royal Infirmary. She was joined by senior gynaegologist TE Elliot (left) and CR Frears, chairman of Leicester No 1 Hospital Committee.
One of the many politicians to have done the rounds at our region’s hospitals is former Labour leader Neil Kinnock who visited under-threat Bretby Hospital in September 1988. The hospital went on to close 11 years later.
When the NHS was launched in 1948, Leicester didn’t just boast two major hospitals but also a maternity hospital in Bond Street and an old isolation hospital in Groby Road. Nurses were trained at Brookfield House (later Charles Freer) School of Nursing, in London Road, in the days before universities took over this key role. Brookfield House features in this photo of trainee nurses enjoying a practical class.
Nurses uniforms bygones feature by Andy Smart. X210518as3-2
This picture from the 1940s shows nurses at Mapperley Hospital, in Nottingham, being presented with certificates by the city’s Lord Mayor. Note the prominent caps, tied tightly beneath the nurses’ chins. It was not until the advent of the NHS in 1948 that the first significant changes to uniforms were made.
Nottinghamshire nurse Dorothea Crewdson (inset and fourth left) with the South Notts Detachment in 1913.
Once a Victorian workhouse and then a hospital, the old Hillcrest Hospital, in Sparkenhoe Street, Highfields, Leicester, was closed and then demolished in the late 1970s after about 140 years. This wonderful picture from 1956 (also our cover picture) shows a group of off-duty nurses at the hospital.
Nurses’ uniforms have changed a lot over the years. Here, modelling the new 1968 attire was Mapperley Hospital nurse Kate Holmes – then Kathleen Melbourne.