Returning to Birkenhead
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Record Number: 19.100
Record Type: Text
Caption:
In remembering the day he returned to his hometown of Birkenhead, Norman states that he was not allowed to walk up the Front Steps of the hospital. He used the side door (photographed) on the institution's Male Side. This accords with the memories of other residents, some of whom recall cleaning the main steps but other than that they were out of bounds. (Ref. No. 13.4 Courtesy of Mandy Cody)
Summary:
Returning to Birkenhead
In a recorded interview on Thursday December 1st 2005 Norman, a former resident, recalls leaving the Royal Albert to go to his hometown of Birkenhead. Through the Labour Exchange he had secured a job as a Road Sweeper. Probably in his twenties this would have taken place in the 1960s. Unfortunately for Norman it did not work out and in time he returned to the hospital. In this short transcripted extract however he talks of the day he left the institution. (Ref. No. 7.3.doc)
NI: And did you ask to leave the Royal Albert or were you told you had to leave the Royal Albert?
Norman: I didn’t ask. They told me.
NI: You didn’t ask?
Norman: No.
NI: So who told you you could leave if you could get a job?
Norman: My mother.
NI: Was that when you were on holiday?
Norman: Yes. They told Royal Albert.
NI: So you went on your holiday to Birkenhead… and your mother told you that you could leave if you could get a job.
Norman: Yes. If you can’t get a job you can go back again, if you’ve no jobs.
NI: So how did it feel to you being told you could leave the Royal Albert?
Norman: Alright it was! Nice feeling.
NI: Did you expect that?
Norman: No I didn’t. No. Two ladies came, took me out of Main Entrance.
NI: Who were those ladies?
Norman: I think welfare ladies and my mother as well.
NI: So two welfare ladies came –
Norman: - and my mother.
NI: And where did they meet you in the Royal Albert?
Norman: Main Entrance, up them steps.
NI: So were you waiting there? Or did - ?
Norman: They’re waiting… And I was, had my case.
NI: You had your case?
Norman: Yes… To take my holiday clothes in. Gone to Wardrobe, the packet… You had your clothes from Wardrobe, Boys Wardrobe to get your clothes. When you come back the case goes back to Wardrobe, open packet then – When you had your holidays you go back to Royal Albert again… I was on Dawson Ward for a long time. Dawson Ward to Tomlinson Ward. Tomlinson Ward to Derby Home.
NI: And just, just to, so I remember this rightly, which – you were on, tell me again which ward you were on when you left to go to be a road sweeper?
Norman: At Derby Home.
NI: On the day that the two ladies came do you remember what you did on that day?
Norman: I got ready, got bath and that. I got examined first with the doctor. See if you’re fit to go home. And your teeth and dentist. …
NI: How did you get from Derby Home, did you - to the Main Steps?
Norman: Oh the staff took me over. One of staff.
NI: And when you got to the Main Steps - ?
Norman: You go to another step first, through the side door, up another step and then down the corridor. Down to Main Office… Chief’s Room… Mr. Hudson… He took me down to Main Entrance.…
NI: Who would be waiting for you at the Main Entrance?
Norman: My mother.
NI: What was it like seeing your mother?
Norman: Alright. Nice to see her again.
Notes:
Mr. Hudson, mentioned by Norman, was Chief Attendant from 1947-8, at which point the position changed to Chief Male Nurse, a post he held until 1966 when the position was discontinued. (Ref: Alston J (selected), Roberts E (ed) (1992) The Royal Albert Hospital: Chronicles of an Era Centre for North-West Regional Studies, University of Lancaster)
Please see Interviews - Record No. 1.… for a summary of the whole interview.
Keywords:
Interviews Chief Male Nurse Regime 1960s Returning to Hospital
Family Outside Work Male Side
Male Side Door Photograph
Biography:
Name: Norman
Gender:
Male
Date of Birth:05/08/1937
Role: Resident
From: 1941 To 1980