King Edwards Hospital, 1965

[Bellstar]

Bellstar I was very surprised when I saw your post as I was born in 1953 and had polio at the age of 2. I was in Lodge Moor Hospital isolation ward initially and after that spells in King Edwards for operations on my foot and both legs. I saw Dr. Herzog at KE VII and Firth Park Clinic and I also remember going to Thornbury Annexe I think. I had a friend there who I saw most times when I went up to KE his name was Kenneth Frost. I remember my mum and his mum used to chat while we waited to see the doctors and we all rode back to Malin Bridge together on the No. 2 Circular bus. It sounds silly but they were happy times! I wonder if we met at the hospital?

 

I dug out these photographs of when i was in hospital at various times as a baby, Obviously i cant remember them being taken, and i dont even know which hospital is which, maybe someone may recognise the backgrounds in the pictures, or maybe even recognise the nurses.

 

It says on the back of this photograph July 1954 and i am with nurse taylor.

 

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At the time i had polio my mother was being treated for TB so dad had to go to visit mum in Western Park and then come and visit me at the Childrens. Dad used to swear that i caught polio from someone at the hospital because the nurses used to carry me around the wards.

Mum said that she would come from western park when she was able and stand outside the hospital window, as they wouldnt let her in and the nurses used to bring me to the window so that she could see me.

Dad must have had a real hard time of it back then because he had my brother and sister to look after as well as working full time.

Mum had me late in life and i think dad resented me in some way, cos mum was ill and so was i. We never really hit it off very well.

[tosh13]

When I was in the KE hospital in 67 I recall being wheeled outside & the sodding wasps landing on my bed ,good job I had a comic,with only me being able to move my head arms & feet it was a little difficult,I cannot recall the name of the old teacher who taught us she was a lovely lady,she told me she taught Roger Taylor (tennis player)how to play tennis,she also taught us french & german,I got a action man for my birthday & me and Lee Platt (Bobby Knutts Nephew) used to tie crape bandage to it's legs & throw it over the curtain rails around the beds to move ourselves about,I got a right rollicking,I also got put in the female ward for a day for throwing peas at the tv.Then me and Lee got out of our beds & put into wheelchairs & we were racing down the corridors ,I think the nurses were glad when we went home,funny but great days even though I was strapped on my bed on a frame for 11 months.the callipers I had on for 6 months were murder,but the shoes I had made looked like frankensteins boots.

[DIDO]

It seems strange that everyone who was in King Edwards for a long time, seemed to enjoy themselves, yet our parents and other people felt so sorry for us. What they did not understand was that each ward became like a small village, where we lived in a small world of our own making. We had to make our own entertainment etc, and were always in trouble.

I remember one day we were outside on B1, during school lessons we tore all our exercise books up, made them into paper aeroplanes and tried to see who could send them the furthest. The lawn looked like it was covered in snow. As a punishment I also was put on the girls ward.

[tosh13]

Bob Monkhouse came to the ward I was on,it was my birthday and he walked down the ward wearing a blue pinstripe suit & sunglasses,my mum brought a coconut cake it was massive & Bob came up to my bed and took some cake from my mum ,he gave me a picture & signed good luck from Bob Monkhouse ,my kid brother drew a moustache on him & it got lost when we moved from Heeley.But it was a great day.

[DIDO]

I think that people who were appearing at the old Empire Theatre often came to visit. I've got three signed pictures, One from Tessy O'Shea, Lenny The Lion And one from Harry Corbet And Sooty. I know Billy Smarts Cicus always came to visit evry year when they were in town.

[gracie]

Hi Suzyq my younger brother was in King Edwards during world cup year 1966, he had perths disease and he had to be strapped to a frame for a year ! . He was only 4 yrs old. I dont remember any nurses or wards but i remember the cooking apple trees near the cafe and i remember getting Dave Berrys autograph once when he came to visit someone there ,i also remember the long ride on the number 2 circular bus (we were living on the flower estate then).I will also never forget his screams when we had to go home .

[MikeSharrard]

I spent many weeks in King Edwards hospital, Dr Herzog and Prof Sharrard were my doctors too. I had polio when i was young and had many operations on my legs.

 

I remember Prof Sharrard asking me on one of my clinic visits what i wanted to do when i grew up and i said i wanted to be a nurse, and he said you can come and work for me lol.

 

Years later when i trained as a pupil nurse, I worked in the theatre as a swab nurse, I got all the bloody swabs thrown at me and i had to wash them in formaldahyde and hang them up and count them at the end of the op to make sure that none were left in the wound.

 

I had the honour to watch him operate. If there was an interesting operation going on in the next theatre, he would take his camera and take pictures, then come back and finish what he was doing. He gave the scrub nurse a hard time i remember if she didnt hand him an instrament so that he could feel it slap into his hand he would just let it slip from his fingers on to the floor and demand another one.

 

I remember seeing him walking down the corridor at the childrens hospital, I was in uniform and only 18 at the time and just started my training and i remember shouting his name, after the words were out of my mouth, i realised what i had done and i thaught "God now i am dead" lol. But he turned round and spoke to me, and when i reminded him who i was he said that he was glad i had started my training and good luck with it. If matron had been around i would have been on the carpet for sure.

 

As a child i remember at King Edwards they would wheel us out in our beds on to the patio so that we could be outside in the sunshine. It was a beautiful hospital back then. Im glad that both doctors lived into old age, they were both brilliant men.

 

It was a lovely surprise to find such fond memories of my father on this site!

 

He was a remarkable man, with an almost unbelievable commitment to his work. I know he had a fearsome reputation among the nursing staff (and indeed his colleagues), but for his patients and anyone who shared his passion for orthopaedics he would go to immense lengths. He would think nothing of spending eight hours on one complex operation. He would also think nothing of ringing up a colleague at 3 am to discuss an idea for a new technique!

[mh01]

so what kind of hospital was this did it have A&E or was it just a general for minor operations or physio etc & when did it close?

[gracie]

so what kind of hospital was this did it have A&E or was it just a general for minor operations or physio etc & when did it close?

It was a specialist orthopaedics hospital i dont think it had an A&E , i think it closed in the nineties and i believe it has now been converted into flats.

[Bellstar]

It was a lovely surprise to find such fond memories of my father on this site!

 

He was a remarkable man, with an almost unbelievable commitment to his work. I know he had a fearsome reputation among the nursing staff (and indeed his colleagues), but for his patients and anyone who shared his passion for orthopaedics he would go to immense lengths. He would think nothing of spending eight hours on one complex operation. He would also think nothing of ringing up a colleague at 3 am to discuss an idea for a new technique!

 

Hi mike, It's an honour to meet you. You must have been so proud of your dad, he was a great surgeon. Did you follow in his footsteps?

I have three daughters and a son and i would have dearly loved one of my kids to have gone into the medical profession but they all find it far too squeemish lol.

Your dad gave his all to his patients, and would never tolorate anything but the best from anyone.