English for Nurses

2

The Story of a British Nurse

Margaret Ledger

I left Lady Manners’ School in Bakewell, Derbyshire in 1939. Europe was beginning to fall under the control of Hitler. Germany had become very powerful, and it was becoming obvious that England would be at war against Germany. I was 18 years of age, so I knew I had to do something useful for the Country. I decided to become a nurse. I commenced my nurse training at the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital on the 18th September 1939. War had been declared. The training was to take four years—from September 1939 to October 1943.

During my nurse training days, we had lectures from the doctors and the nurse tutor. We worked hard on the wards and departments including the Operating Theatre. ...