00:00So we're just in between Much Wenlock and Church Stretton and we're with a group of lovely nurses
00:05that are having a reunion. What's your name, madam? Sue. So you've kind of organised a little bit of a get-together.
00:11You live not too far from here, don't you? I live about three, yeah, three minutes away.
00:16Cool. Some of the girls are about three hours away. Yeah, Bath, Bavingstoke.
00:20So just fill us in. So you girls were all training together as nurses back in the day? Yes.
00:26And where was that at then? At Shrewsbury. What was it called in those days? Shrewsbury Hospital.
00:33Shrewsbury Hospital. Cool. And so how often do you get together? Little Bird tells me you've been getting together over the years, kind of, most years.
00:43We first organised one at 10 years. Yeah.
00:46Then we had another one at 21 years. And then we met at 30. Yeah.
00:5235. And then we've done every year since 35 years.
00:57And this is the 40 years, yeah. This is the 40 years. And we've kind of, it was a smaller group and we've kind of found more people.
01:03I think we've got to 15, but obviously not all 15 are here, but we've had 15 of the original set.
01:09So how did, was it kind of one of these, back in the day it would have been Friends Reunited, wouldn't it?
01:13One of those kind of pages, yeah.
01:15And then you've, what, you've now got like a WhatsApp group or something in you.
01:19We've got a WhatsApp group. Yeah.
01:19Nurses Reunited.
01:21Nurses Reunited, yeah.
01:23And then for a few, and they're not here today, but we put a post up on the Shrewsbury, well, SAF Facebook post.
01:31Yeah.
01:32We put that picture up last year and we found two more, but they have now come today.
01:37You've completed that middle row here today, haven't you?
01:39Yeah.
01:39So how nice is it for you all to be getting together? So you've rented this place here and you've got a couple of nights.
01:45There's a pool, you've been skinny dipping in the pool, you've got massages, but I mean.
01:51Eating, eating, eating.
01:52Eating, eating, yeah. So what does it mean for you to kind of get together and, you know, share your stories of life and working life?
02:00It's really special because at the time we spent three years together.
02:04Yeah.
02:04Three years training together and we knew each other really, really well and then to get back together is just a little bit.
02:10Yeah.
02:10The highs and lows, it's major stuff, isn't it, but it was an hour a day.
02:14To get through that, it was, of course, each other through the thick and the thin and then.
02:18Yeah.
02:19And then, I knew I'd not stop talking.
02:21No, that's good.
02:23It's actually a bad experience at the time.
02:25Yeah.
02:26Well, yeah, because nursing, it's, I mean, I should imagine it looks very different now to how it was back then.
02:34So it's nice.
02:35You've got that common history and that common ground.
02:38I always want them.
02:38Oh, yep.
02:40You're off.
02:41So, so any of you still involved in nursing?
02:45Yes.
02:46Yeah?
02:47Oh, why?
02:47It would be quite nice if you had a little, do you think, a sentence just to show the breadth.
02:53I mean, very interesting people doing very interesting things.
02:56Yeah, yeah.
02:58So who's still involved in nursing then?
03:00Yeah.
03:01Ah, fantastic.
03:03And still enjoying it?
03:04Yeah, still enjoying it.
03:05Yeah.
03:06Yeah.
03:06I'm still at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
03:08Yeah.
03:08Which is now in Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.
03:11That, yeah.
03:11I've seen many changes in 40 years.
03:14Yeah, yeah.
03:14So if you girls were going back 40 years, would you kind of, do you think you'd still be picking
03:22nursing or?
03:24It's a difficult question.
03:26I would.
03:26I would.
03:26Yeah.
03:27Yeah, yeah.
03:29You found it a rewarding career over the years.
03:33It can be really varied.
03:34I think we've all gone different routes, so we've all got them quite varied.
03:38Yeah, yeah.
03:39You don't really get bored, do you?
03:41Yeah.
03:41There's so many different options.
03:43Yeah.
03:43Yeah.
03:44So when's the next reunion?
03:45So is it every year now then?
03:47Every 12 months?
03:48Hopefully.
03:49Yeah.
03:50Great stuff.
03:51Well, what a lovely thing to do.
03:53I mean, I struggle to keep in touch with, you know, more than two of me old school mates.
03:57So you've done awesome keeping in touch.
03:59So well done, Sue, for organising it all.
04:01Yes.
04:02Yes.
04:03Cool.
04:03And thank you ladies for looking after us for 40 years.
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