Kathy at ‘Nurses Day of Action’ 1985 (photo © Bristol Evening Post) and Kathy now
I first went to Glenside in 1978. I was a second-year student nurse at Frenchay Hospital. The course offered secondments to experience other branches of nursing. I thought I’d try Psychiatry.
Student life in the Nurses Home, 1970s
I moved into the Nurses Home at Glenside and immediately knew I’d found my people. They were mostly alternative and international. They went to the same music clubs as me, though I didn’t know any of them yet. They cooked incredible international cuisines in the big, shared kitchen.
Nurses Home moving in day 1978 and Kathy’s student nursing cohort
My room was on the second floor about halfway along. It looked out onto the road. I can still see the room every time I drive past now.
One night we went to The Old Tavern pub (currently being converted into student accommodation) and got kicked out for snogging my now husband. I always said he was a bad influence on me!
My psychiatry placement at Glenside Hospital
On my first day on duty at Glenside the few of us who’d opted to do our secondment there were shown around the wards. Most of them were locked wards, so we had to ring a bell and wait to be let in. The wards were opened by a series of casually dressed people, with cigarettes hanging from their mouths. We were all in our starched uniforms and caps.
It turned out that the people who opened the doors to us were the Charge Nurses! We couldn’t believe it. But very soon we settled into wearing ‘mufti’ on shift and became acclimatised to the much more relaxed ways of Glenside. In fact, some of us took the opportunity to wear non-uniform too far and were occasionally reprimanded by the matron for being too scruffy or wearing revealing clothing.
While I was there, we had to write an essay on our nursing experience, and I wrote about a trip where we took some patients from our ward for a day out. I got a very high mark for this piece of work and the tutors at Glenside suggested I submit it to a Nursing Journal for publication, which I did, and it was.
There was a wonderful canteen at Glenside, and it became the done thing to have tomatoes on toast for breakfast. Several of us from each ward took breaks at the same time, and we’d always order a large number of tomatoes on toast with large mugs of tea, and all sit around a big table.
Working at Bristol Royal Infirmary
I qualified as a State Registered Nurse in 1979, and after working as a staff nurse on a couple of wards at Frenchay Hospital, I moved to Accident and Emergency (A&E) at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, becoming Sister-In-Charge of the A&E ward for all of the 1980s.
Kathy at Nurses Day of Action, 1985 and as ward Sister-in-Charge at Accident and Emergency
Bristol Royal Infirmary Accident and Emergency, 1980s
Returning to teach at Glenside
My husband and I adopted two children, and I returned to the A&E ward for a short while as a part-time staff nurse. There was no Adoption Leave then.
Then happily, in the mid-nineties, I was asked to teach some clinical skills at Glenside which was by then a Campus for the University of the West of England teaching students of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals. We lived in Fishponds, so we were only a stones’ throw away.
It was such a joy to be back. The buildings were so beautiful, I’d forgotten just how beautiful. Incredible original tiled floors, glorious Victorian architecture, stone buildings.
Victorian tiled corridor at Glenside Campus and The Hollies student accommodation
It was built in 1861 and is Grade II listed. It has a stunning clocktower and symmetrical wings, with enclosed courtyard gardens all set in an incredible arboretum. The beautiful red brick Nurses Home was now called The Hollies, and was student accommodation.
I began by teaching clinical skills, and manual handling. I moved on to facilitate work-based learning days and supervision of learning days, where students in clinical practice came back to the university to make sense of their experiences using evidence-based practice, in reflective groups.
I absolutely adored it. I stayed there as a Visiting Lecturer in Adult Nursing until I was 60, in 2017, when I retired.
Glenside library office circa 1990s and Glenside main entrance circa 1990
I loved working with the students at Glenside. They were so motivated and enthusiastic. So questioning and thoughtful. I seemed at home in helping students work in ways which were useful for them.
We considered their interests e.g. a student who didn’t often participate in the group told us that he was most interested in reading scientific journals about the latest healthcare developments, so we agreed that each week he’d bring headlines to the group of what he’d been reading. I can still recall that day he brought information about micro skin sensors, and we all wondered whether that would really be possible. Now, of course, that’s an everyday reality.
Why I’ll always love Glenside
I still live nearby and love to drop in and see the old place. I love Glenside because it helped me know myself back in the day when I found my people, and because it gave me the opportunity to work in the way I wanted, in the most beautiful setting. I’m forever grateful.
