Memories of Nurse Chalinor
We have received several recollections about Box’s district nurse, Nurse Chalinor following the article in the last issue.
We have received several recollections about Box’s district nurse, Nurse Chalinor following the article in the last issue.
Bill Cooper Wrote:
My family and I knew Nurse Chalinor quite well being almost neighbours in Chapel Lane, especially in the spot where our garden hedge and fences joined, long before The Brownings was built. Today, she would be well qualified as a social worker as well as a midwife and, before the National Health Service started, the free district nurse was everyone's first port of call to avoid an expensive visit to the Doctor. She would always attend to them.
Medical Confrontations
But she did have some opponents and one particular adversary of hers was the School Attendance Officer, especially Mr Miles, a very stern (almost feared) gentleman assigned to Box School. His job comprised entering every classroom and checking the daily attendance returns. Should there be any absentees, he would often visit the child’s homes and, if adjudged necessary, would implement legal proceedings for non-attendance against the parents. In cases of claimed sickness, he would visit to the nurse for confirmation. The village grape-vine occasionally buzzed about yet another nurse/officer confrontation should he dare to disagree with her professional medical diagnosis.
One of her favourite stories concerned the group of gypsy travellers who intermittently visited Wadswick Common. They had some unknown way of contacting the nurse before they arrived in Box, perhaps citing maternity or injury. They would always call for her whatever their situation or location but she never divulged their means of contact or locations before Wadswick. When she heard that the School Officer planned an attack on the gipsy children in advance to ensure they would attend school, Nurse Chalinor’s comments were: I will not be a party to change anyone's established way of life. But that wasn’t always true and, after we had finished with them, she would collect my comics (usually The Dandy) and also my sister’s (Sunny Stories) and deliver them to Wadswick to encourage the children to read.
Deadly Diphtheria
In the very early 1940s, there was a severe epidemic of diphtheria in the village. I can still recall the very explicit posters Diphtheria is Deadly plastered everywhere. One day at Box School, a white van appeared from Trowbridge with Nurse Chalinor organising everyone with needle in hand and, class-by-class, we were all lined up and vaccinated. The same procedure followed some weeks later. I remember that many of us complained of sore arms following the second jab. It cannot be denied that such measures in those grim early war years were certainly effective as far as controlling this deadly disease was concerned. Years later, it became known that Nurse Chalinor had also visited the gipsy children complete with needle. Yes, definitely an unsung hero of Box!
My family and I knew Nurse Chalinor quite well being almost neighbours in Chapel Lane, especially in the spot where our garden hedge and fences joined, long before The Brownings was built. Today, she would be well qualified as a social worker as well as a midwife and, before the National Health Service started, the free district nurse was everyone's first port of call to avoid an expensive visit to the Doctor. She would always attend to them.
Medical Confrontations
But she did have some opponents and one particular adversary of hers was the School Attendance Officer, especially Mr Miles, a very stern (almost feared) gentleman assigned to Box School. His job comprised entering every classroom and checking the daily attendance returns. Should there be any absentees, he would often visit the child’s homes and, if adjudged necessary, would implement legal proceedings for non-attendance against the parents. In cases of claimed sickness, he would visit to the nurse for confirmation. The village grape-vine occasionally buzzed about yet another nurse/officer confrontation should he dare to disagree with her professional medical diagnosis.
One of her favourite stories concerned the group of gypsy travellers who intermittently visited Wadswick Common. They had some unknown way of contacting the nurse before they arrived in Box, perhaps citing maternity or injury. They would always call for her whatever their situation or location but she never divulged their means of contact or locations before Wadswick. When she heard that the School Officer planned an attack on the gipsy children in advance to ensure they would attend school, Nurse Chalinor’s comments were: I will not be a party to change anyone's established way of life. But that wasn’t always true and, after we had finished with them, she would collect my comics (usually The Dandy) and also my sister’s (Sunny Stories) and deliver them to Wadswick to encourage the children to read.
Deadly Diphtheria
In the very early 1940s, there was a severe epidemic of diphtheria in the village. I can still recall the very explicit posters Diphtheria is Deadly plastered everywhere. One day at Box School, a white van appeared from Trowbridge with Nurse Chalinor organising everyone with needle in hand and, class-by-class, we were all lined up and vaccinated. The same procedure followed some weeks later. I remember that many of us complained of sore arms following the second jab. It cannot be denied that such measures in those grim early war years were certainly effective as far as controlling this deadly disease was concerned. Years later, it became known that Nurse Chalinor had also visited the gipsy children complete with needle. Yes, definitely an unsung hero of Box!
Les Dancey Recalled
Nurse Chalinor was truly a wonderful person and we all had total confidence in her. I remember vividly the times she attended Box School, sitting just inside the door of the girls’ lobby at the bottom of the steps that separated the junior and senior parts of the school. There, we would all have to be examined for nits!
Another vivid memory I have of her is when she drove my mother and me to St Martin's Hospital, Bath, in her little Morris 8, with all the lovely leather smelling seats. The purpose of my journey was to have my adenoids and tonsils taken out. There was an amusing episode, in retrospect, when I woke up from the operation. I was shocked to see that the front of my pyjamas was completely covered in blood. Earlier, when they were wheeling me down the corridor to the operation theatre, I asked where we were going and they replied to the theatre. I said, Oh, good! what are we going to see. They then put a gauze cone over my mouth and nose and told me to breathe deeply and count to ten whilst dropping some fluid onto the gauze. That was me out for the count and I never did get to see the theatre!
Many thanks Bill and Les but we need more contributions and there is still no known photograph of Nurse Chalinor.
Nurse Chalinor was truly a wonderful person and we all had total confidence in her. I remember vividly the times she attended Box School, sitting just inside the door of the girls’ lobby at the bottom of the steps that separated the junior and senior parts of the school. There, we would all have to be examined for nits!
Another vivid memory I have of her is when she drove my mother and me to St Martin's Hospital, Bath, in her little Morris 8, with all the lovely leather smelling seats. The purpose of my journey was to have my adenoids and tonsils taken out. There was an amusing episode, in retrospect, when I woke up from the operation. I was shocked to see that the front of my pyjamas was completely covered in blood. Earlier, when they were wheeling me down the corridor to the operation theatre, I asked where we were going and they replied to the theatre. I said, Oh, good! what are we going to see. They then put a gauze cone over my mouth and nose and told me to breathe deeply and count to ten whilst dropping some fluid onto the gauze. That was me out for the count and I never did get to see the theatre!
Many thanks Bill and Les but we need more contributions and there is still no known photograph of Nurse Chalinor.