sue reeves
knowlegable brummie
Anyone remember the lovely midwife Polly Perkins who lived in Regent Road Handsworth in the 60's? What a great character she delivered our daughter. Is she still with us any details.
I daresay that the nurse/midwife, a Miss Robinson, has long gone to her rest. Nanny always commented whenever we saw her, always cycling from one call to another, that she helped at my arrival in the world. I was always in awe of this lady - well I did owe her some gratitude I guess as one faux pas on her part might have cut my arrival to an abrupt halt!
I should not have been delighted, but I was, when she had an accident outside my home when she fell off her bicycle. I don't know how the accident occurred but suffice to say that Nurse Robinson was ushered into the the house for a timely cup of tea, removal of blood from here cuts and grazes and general sympathy by all that seemed to be suddenly present. What delighted me was that at long last I could see, at close quarters, this lady and get to speak with her.
I wonder how many children she assisted into the world? - especially in the days prior to the NHS and when doctors and hospitals insisted that childbirth be better served in a hospital rather than at home.
District nurses/midwives were just as much a part of the everyday scene as bakery, milk and coal delivery carts or vans.
Strange you should say that Mike as my Mom was named Mary [Beatrice or Winfred depending upon whether you read her Birth or Baptismal certificate] and her sister always called her Molly. I never knew why.There is a Mary Ann Perkins born 1914 who died in 1999 in Birmingham. (Polly or Pol is the nickname for Mary Ann)
Why did that reply make me cry ?