I walked all the way from Dockwray Square
One winter the snow was very deep and I walked from North Shields to get up here to the Rising Sun Geriatric Hospital and I was 20 minutes late and the Sister said, “where the hell have you been you are 20 minutes late?” Another of the nurses said, “If I was her I would sit down, have cup of tea and turn round and walk back home again.”
I replied “I will do that if she starts on me” because she had been sent a driver to pick her up from Palmersville and I had walked all the way from Dockwray Square in North Shields.
In other ways she was very good, but she hated anybody to be late. Another time, a girl who worked with me and a girl who worked in the kitchen were trying to get to work in heavy snow and we climbed fences to cross the farmers’ fields. We walked in the furrows as far as we could then we had to climb over other fences. We eventually got there – we were in a right state; it was a really bad winter. The place looked magical though covered in snow; it was sometime in the 80s I think.
I remember one of the gardeners, he collected the rose hips and made wine. The bus would drop us off at the end of the road by the Wheatsheaf, and Albert the driver would pick us up and drive us up the path. It seemed a lot longer today when I walked up here.
One time we all went on a day trip to France. We planned on getting shopping and seeing the sights but it was very foggy, and by the time we got there it was time to come back so we saw nothing and got no shopping. Another time we had a trip to Delaval Hall where they held the banquets.
I worked at the hospital for many years, they were a good crowd.