Madge was shocked to see that many of the shops on her way back to the family house were boarded up, if not blasted to bits. She looked around in horror and clutched her suitcase with white knuckles as she came to the streets on which she’d grown up. In a nearby road there was a space where Mrs Hanley’s house should have been.
Madge stumbled on rubble as she walked towards her childhood home and, finally, stood in shock. The brick walls were still standing, albeit almost completely blackened, but the front door was open and some windows had been blown in. Madge felt a lump in her throat as she thought of all the happy times they’d had there as a family, before Dad had died. She peered into where the window had been and there, on the dust-coated piano, were her mother’s brown leather gloves, a treasured gift from husband Charles.
Madge stood outside the blast-damaged house as she remembered how Dad told the sisters that he had bought a special present for Mum’s birthday. After being sworn to secrecy the girls were allowed to see the gift that turned out to be the gloves, which he had bought at a shop near Dover Priory station.
‘Your Mum has lovely soft hands,’ he told the girls, ‘and these gloves will keep them warm in the winter.’
One by one the girls had been allowed to try on the gloves and they’d all laughed when Doreen’s tiny hands and wrists completely disappeared from view when Dad helped her to put them on.
‘They are so soft and smell really nice,’ Doris had said in awe.
Mum will be absolutely delighted when I hand these over to her in High Wycombe, Madge said to herself. Especially as they were the last gift from Dad before he died. She tiptoed gingerly through the wreckage, picked up the gloves and took one last look around the home that would never be quite the same again.
4
Becoming a Nurse
The first thing Madge did once her move to High Wycombe became permanent was to start looking for a job. In truth, her real ambition was still to become a hairdresser, but she knew there was no way to find the money for the apprenticeship. Instead, with the help of an impressive reference from Wiggins Teape, she quickly landed a job in the secretarial department with Ernest Turner, an electrics company.
There was an active social side to her job and Madge soon became friends with Stella Peaty, who was a few years older and spoke keenly of how wonderful it would be to help the brave, injured soldiers by becoming a nurse. Stella’s passion made Madge wonder whether she might also be able to do her bit once she turned eighteen, so the pair started attending Red Cross meetings at Naphill, the headquarters of Bomber Command, where they went on a series of first aid courses and learned how to deal with medical emergencies.
They were encouraged to volunteer as nurses, but the plans were hit by a strange twist of events. During the weeks it took for the volunteer paperwork to be completed, Stella fell in love with and married Eric Moorby, an RAF officer. Just days after the marriage ceremony Stella told Madge, very calmly, that she would no longer be going to the meetings for she wouldn’t be volunteering now that she was married. Madge was disappointed to be embarking on her adventure alone but she enrolled anyway and within days she received instructions to report to Stoke Mandeville Hospital to begin training as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse.
‘Good on you, my girl,’ said her mum. ‘Although I’ll be incredibly sad to see you moving away to live in the nurses’ home but you won’t be far.’ Lily looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘I’ll tell you what, I was never too keen on that Stella. I think you’ll make some much nicer friends at Stoke Mandeville. And by the way, there’s something I want to say.’
‘You’ve worried me a bit now,’ said Madge. ‘What is it?’
‘Only that your dad would have been ever so proud of the way you’re doing your bit for the country,’ replied a beaming Lily before giving her a hug.
On the morning Madge first reported for training at Stoke Mandeville towards the end of 1941, she woke with a sense of nervous excitement. She couldn’t wait to get started but she also seemed unable to control the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. She managed to eat only half a slice of toast, before slipping on her coat and shoes and making her way to her new job.
The hospital was divided into two sections. One was for civilian patients from Middlesex Hospital in London and the other was for the ‘Services’ and was staffed in the main by Emergency Medical Service nurses, a unit set up at the outbreak of war in preparation for the anticipated mass casualties.
When Madge arrived at the hospital reception, a kind-looking lady with glasses and a beaming smile greeted her warmly.
‘Hello, dear. We’re so pleased to have you. You young ladies are doing wonders for this country. I only wish there were more of you!’ She grinned at Madge, who felt a surge of pride rising in her chest. ‘Follow me, dear. You’ll be working with civilians to begin with, and Rose will show you the ropes. She’s been a nurse for donkey’s years so there’s nothing she can’t teach you and she’ll be pleased to have you. She has two daughters right around your age.’
Madge quickly settled in, but after following Rose around like a little duckling for a couple of days, her first unsupervised job was to clean the mouth of an old lady, teeth and all.
For Madge, this turned out to be her worst nightmare! The task made her feel so sick she instantly retched into
