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Selly Oak Hospital 1970s

cearnegiant

master brummie
Remember the staff canteen at Selly Oak in mid 1970s, I recall was in basement and was very ceramic tiles and stainless steel. Could get food/drink 24 hours.Was nice in early hours of morning to pop in for bacon sandwich,My early memory of the canteen at the hospital was 1950s when the canteen was in wooden hut in the grounds of hospital. Wooden floor and trestle tables, very much then in style of old workhouse..Morbid but interesting memory was the Mortuary/Chaple in 1970s. That then still in style of old workhouse.Remember seeing the body of Nun laid out in full Habit. The candles reflecting off stained Glass windows.Very much in style of victorian times. The big problem that the hospital had in mid 70s was the farrel cats that lived in the grounds of hospital. They lived in the sewer system. Would see them at night roaming the grounds of hospital. Very good for keeping down rats.but again would reflect on the Workhouse origins of hospital
 
This brings back memories of the early 80s too, for me. The feral cats made horrendous noises all round the Nurses home and there was a cats protection type person who used to come periodically to try to round them up to sterelise them, that was funny to watch lol.
The canteen in the wooden hut did much nicer bacon sarnies than the main canteen in the daytime and the hot chocolate was the ultimate drink on a bad day!!
The main canteen food on nights was lovely though and they would keep it warm for you if you got called back to the ward.
Do you remember the hairdressers in the basement too? I had my first perm there, don't know what possessed me. must have thought it looked good then!!
Only visited the mortuary once in the dark,the windows were beautiful though.
Even though they changed things round, the main building was still the same in 2007, when my other half was in there, I went for a wander round and the main long corridoris almost unchanged, with the wards and x-ray off it. The canteen wasn't a patch on the 80's one though.
There is a new casualty entrance, but still in the same area and ITU is the same, but they have changed the useof some of the wards and addeda burns unit, though a lot of that is at the new Queen Elizabeth - have you seen the pics of that?
Thanks for the memory recall!
Sue
 
You are right, still going strong, been redecorated, but not much altered. We had our 30 year reunion there last summer, the food is quite nice and not too expensive, also they weren't at all bothered by a quite noisy gathering of middle aged people with all the associated "I didn't recognize you" or "you haven't changed" comments, then all the recalled memories!!The outside at the back has been patio'd and has tables and brollies - used more in the wet with our weather lol
Sue
 
Sue, There was the very hot summer, think was 1976 or 77. Would meet up at The Country girl. Sit out front with pint Larger and lime, The nurses in sweat over up coming exams,Trying to relax,Moaning that they think "Sister got it in for them" Used to work hard,but knew how to have some fun.Dont know if Selly Oak had staff club? Remember that East Birmiingham had one,
 
The male Cats never thought it was funny.When the cats protection league turned up with two house bricks to castrate them !! Thought brings tears to eyes
 
THere was a social club at Selly Oak, over the road from the main hospital block, behind the nurses home, there were also squash courts there - I learnt to play there, taught by one of the Staff Nurses on the ward, then got challenged by one of the SHO's, who unknown to me thought he was the bees knees and "had never been beaten by a girl" - so having only played for about 6 weeks, took him on and beat him easily, he never lived it down, he is now a consultant and does a clinic at our hospital, so have had some laughs about it now.
Sue
 
Hi again, not sure what I did then but I certainly lost my reply, forgive me if you have to read this twice.

As I was saying, I do remember Selly Oak Hospital in the early 1970s. I worked there and lived in Woodlands Nurses home, where you were supposed to get a pass if you wanted to stay out late (after about 9.00 pm as a Cadet Nurse) but we never did, we were always let in whenever we returned.

I agree about the bacon butties, heaven from the hut. I also remember the canteen at Springfields up the road. The parties there were good as well but not a patch on the "Doctor's res' parties", anyone remember those?

I have fond memories of the Country Girl and also remember the Social Club.

At one point I worked on the children's ward (Block F I think) which was supposed to be haunted upstairs but I never heard anything.

I don't remember the cats, perhaps they came later, I left in 1972.

Happy Days
 
I know the cats became problem in mid 70s onwards.If approached one would Hiss and arch there backs. Reminded me of a few of my girlfriends at the time...
 
Shirleysura,
Doctors res parties must have carried on, I remember going to them!
By the early 80's, the Childrens wards were both on the ground floor, opposite B wards, no upstairs wards for them - probably health and safety.
The Woodlands was still going strong and you still had to be in by 11.30 unless you had a pass, or you could soft talk Tom, the night doorman lol - lost count of the times we would go and remove him from his office by the door with tales of broken taps or strange noises or sights, to allow friends to sneak in late!
Sue
 
Hi again, not sure what I did then but I certainly lost my reply, forgive me if you have to read this twice.

As I was saying, I do remember Selly Oak Hospital in the early 1970s. I worked there and lived in Woodlands Nurses home, where you were supposed to get a pass if you wanted to stay out late (after about 9.00 pm as a Cadet Nurse) but we never did, we were always let in whenever we returned.

I agree about the bacon butties, heaven from the hut. I also remember the canteen at Springfields up the road. The parties there were good as well but not a patch on the "Doctor's res' parties", anyone remember those?

I have fond memories of the Country Girl and also remember the Social Club.

At one point I worked on the children's ward (Block F I think) which was supposed to be haunted upstairs but I never heard anything.

I don't remember the cats, perhaps they came later, I left in 1972.

Happy Days
I have just joined this Brum sight, after having found through DNA that my great grandmother and family came from Brum.
I too trained at Selly Oak in the 60's. We had 2 late passes a week but I had a screwdriver so I was in charge of unscrewing the blocks of the windows so as we could get in after a night at the Rum Runner. I went into Woodlands about 4 yrs ago and I was surprised to see that it had not changed-same paint etc, from the 60's. Being a 3rd year student in charge of a 44 bedded geriatric ward with just one "runner" between two wards was not a good situation.
I worked on F ward, on my own as a student on nights but never encountered a ghost but I still remember certain children!
They were happy days.
 
I worked on B2 opposite the childrens ward in the early 80's as well as on the younger childrens ward. Never saw any ghosts, but that corridor was eerie at night! Also lived in the Woodlands, with Tom the night Porter on the door. It's a housing estate now, but the Country Girl is still going strong and serving nice food.
 
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