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Sunday 2 June 2013

Nursey, Nursey!! Story for Storytelling Sunday at Sian’s Blog.

It’s that time again ….. Storytelling Sunday at Sian’s Blog
and my story this month isn’t of a precious item to take with me but rather a precious memory.

I also took part in Sian’s Swaps where 40 lovely fellow bloggers joined in to collect a small parcel of bits and pieces to post on to the next name on the list. I posted to Jo in Australia and she loved her parcel. Here’s what Lizzie sent to me.

 Aren’t they all great?  That delicious little book she made has already been written in, it’s my little book of positive words!  Thank you so much Lizzie.



While making a layout with the theme “What did you want to do when you grew up” for the May challenge at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge, it got me thinking about the story behind why I always wanted to be a nurse........
 Here it is.....................
When I was around 6 yrs old we didn’t have much money to spend on toys for us kids.  Dad had been away in the Army for the first four yrs of my life, on his return there was an extra mouth to feed.  On his demob, he had gone back to his old job in the Lucas factory and Mom did a little part time job at the same factory, in the evenings, when Dad came home to look after us.  She did this job to save up for Christmas so we would have presents from Santa. My sister and I had a beautiful baby doll each, that Christmas, with a soft stuffed body and a little papier mache head, complete with eyelashes and a rosebud mouth.

I loved my doll and would play in the garden, arranging her and my other odd assortment of matchbox dollies, in a circle to have a tea party.  One afternoon I was out there with my dolls when a sudden torrential downpour started, complete with thunder and lightening.  I scooped my dollies up in their blanket and ran indoors.  I was already soaked and frightened by the thunder and lightening so I went straight upstairs to change and get dry.  What I hadn’t realised was that my beloved Rosebud  was lying face down in the rain.  She lay there all night and next day when I found her, her face was a mess.  I was heartbroken, Mom was very nice and said not to worry we could take her to be mended at the Dolls Hospital.

I had seen the hospital from the bus on the way to my Aunt’s house and always wanted to go in. It was a double fronted shop with a red cross in the window and the name Dolls Hospital written in large letters above the door.  Inside, the shelves were full of doll parts in different sizes, with the heads all facing front, looking very menacing to a small child.  A lady came up to us wearing a nurses uniform and took my little Rosebud from me.  We’ll soon have her as good as new she said briskly, disappearing behind a curtain at the back of the shop.  We were told to come back in two days to collect Rosebud and I couldn’t wait to see her again.  There she was with her head as good as new and off I skipped down the street with her.  From then on I wanted to be a nurse, so I could mend people the way my doll had been mended.

While thinking of this story I also remember how dangerous our childhood was at times. This particular year, Dad had been offered overtime, which meant that between 6pm and 7pm we 3 kids were left on our own, with the next door neighbour to call on in an emergency???  Unthinkable today but back then we grew up fast!

You wouldn’t believe what 3 little kids could get up to in that hour!!  My little brother, age two, was stationed on the stair well window where he could see Dad cycling down the hill from work. He’d clap his chubby little hands shouting Daddy’s coming, so we girls, ages 6 and 8 yrs old could clear up from whatever skulduggery we were up to.  That year my brother could be bribed  to stay on the stairs with a square of chocolate from my monthly choc bar allowance. We were rationed to one bar per month then and would be for the next 3 years.  Later he learned the value of his role and when his demands were refused by us girls,  he went on strike, refusing to tell us when Dad was coming down the hill …….. but that’s another story!

My big sister’s favourite thing was cooking and she would make us lovely, thick, fried, potatoe scallops in the chip pan!  We would invite the local kids round and they paid a penny a scallop doused with a generous helping of salt and malt vinegar from the barrel.  Delicious!!  We didn’t see any danger in using hot fat on our own.  Another  favourite was bubble toffee, made by boiling sugar and adding bicarbonate of soda when the sugar had melted down, making bubbly toffee.  After you’d eaten a few pieces though you had a bad tummy ache!!

My favourite was to have all the kids round to be bandaged up with an assortment of materials ranging from Dad’s best handkerchief to Mom’s dish cloth or operated on, with a knife from the kitchen, luckily it was very blunt!!  We had fake blood made from the juice of berries from the garden, still not sure if they were poisonous or not??

 I can’t believe we survived our childhood but we did……….

22 comments:

  1. It is so sad to think that for many kids that kind of imaginative play is unheard of! Your childhood, while hard/dangerous, was a blessing too. I have always wondered what the inside of dolls hospital looked like ... intriguing!

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  2. When I was little, there was a comic that had a story based in a dolls hospital, I didn't know they really existed! I would have been fascinated to take a broken doll repaired!

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  3. I can remember that comic too and used to play hospitals with my dolls. I loved the little look into your childhood.

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  4. So entrepreneurial :) I love your story and shows how important your brother's role was to give up chocolate for it :)

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  5. Jean, your story brought tears to my eyes (in a good way). I remember similar childhood experiences...very different from the privileged lives my kids lead!
    Congratulations on winning the Scrap for Help May Challenge with this FAB page! So well deserved :)

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  6. Yes, as Anupama hinted, you should definitely see whose page is at the top of the latest S4H post. :)

    The story of the doll hospital is charming. It's wonderful that such a service existed, to save little girls from the heartache of losing their dear dolly companions.

    Times have changed, and I think it is important to preserve memories.

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  7. A great story of childhood memories and how creative you and your sister were. We didn't think of the dangers at the time, just got lost in role play. I had a doll with a china head that had to go off to the Doll's Hospital. I hardly slept until she was safely back with me all repaired. Thanks for a trip down memory lane.

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  8. Your story almost brought tears to my eyes too..because I can remember my Mum telling us a similar story about a dolls face being destroyed. I think it devastated her at the time, when money was tight and there could be no replacement. I love how remembering that story triggered the other memories for you too. Great stuff!

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  9. Lovely story! Yes, childhood then was different! Hugs, Valerie

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  10. Oh there are still doll's hospitals today - we sent Princess's off to two, as the first one didn't do a very good job :(

    Wookie tells similar stories about what he and his siblings got up to whilst looking after themselves, very different to many children's experiences today.

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  11. What a lovely story. I used to read a comic when I was a little girl that had a dolls hospital and a little girl called Nurse Nancy! Gosh your story has brought back some memories :-)

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  12. What a wonderful reason to want to become a nurse! I enjoyed your stories about that hour of time.

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  13. Hello, Jeanie
    What wonderful childhood memories. Growing up with four other siblings in my family was very similar. We played outdoors most of our childhood. TV was boring and there were no video games, or DVD's, because there were no computers! I loved that simple life, and we all got along and had the best of times. Thank you for sharing those good time memories.
    Teresa in California
    http://amagicalwhimsy.blogspot.com/

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  14. OH MY GOODNESS!

    Now-a-days I'm paranoid letting my boy bike up our country road! When I was a kid, could ride anywhere except the two lane and even in the dark! I do think kids grew up a lot faster then! I kinda wish I had a nurse for a baby doll myself! I have a story on one, I should tell it next month....Love the tale you spun, I could see the pictures in my mind! AND SUPER CONGRATS on your win! Please let Anne know so we can write you up on our blog! She might want to read the story too!

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  15. What lovely childhood memories. It brought back the mischief we used to get up to behind our parent's backs and how we never came to any real harm. A bottle of water and a jam sandwich and we were all set for a day out playing.

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  16. Hello, Jeanie :). What a pleasure to hear your childhood memories, precious times ... missed getting mischief with my younger brother too. I love growing up in the village and all the little games I played, we don't have much but the JOY!. LOVE your leather bound journal there, surely delightful to jot things down :). Thank you for your sweet comment on my junk journal @ Yvonne's blog, hope you'll play along with our challenge :). HUGS.

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  17. many thanks for sharing these wonderful memories with us.

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  18. I have really enjoyed reading your memories, thank you for sharing.

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  19. Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my story! I'm really enjoying linking my scrapbook memories to the stories behind them.

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  20. Thank you so much for the trip down your memory lane - I so enjoyed it! I think its so sad that todays children don't have the same opportunities to use their imagination as you were able to. I love the story of the dolls hospital - I too would have been heartbroken if it had happened to my dolly. Thank you for sharing. J x

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  21. This is lovely, Jeanie....so many memories...it is indeed amazing that we survived our childhoods!
    Alison xx

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  22. Lovely stories today - my mom-in-law would have loved to work in a doll hospital - she collects dolls to this very day.

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