Godfrey House

I moved in there in mid-January, 1967 ready for Introductory Block at the beginning of February. I lived there on the top floor during Introductory Block and for a couple of months afterwards. We could only have a male visitor in one room on the ground floor and I think anyone under 21 had to be in by 10pm or maybe 10.30pm. If you were 21 and over you got an extra half an hour then the door was locked. If you were away overnight then you signed out in a book and signed in when you returned. There was an elderly lady in charge of Godfrey House, she had a little dog and she lived in a small flat on the first floor.

If you were on an early shift you were woken by a thump on the door and a shout of “Six o’clock Nurse”. Board and lodging were taken out of our monthly pay and we got breakfast, lunch, tea and supper, or we could use the kitchen in Godfrey House, but the fridge wasn’t very large and there was no freezer. I enjoyed the few months I was there and I moved out at the end of May 1967, when I got Engaged to live back with family and to be closer to my fiancé.

The age of majority was 21 then, the hospital would have been in loco parentis of the under 21s I guess. I was 21 so was classed as a mature Student Nurse.