A group of former Queen Elizabeth Hospital nurses met in Birmingham to celebrate their seventieth birthdays in July 2016 after travelling from all over the UK and from as far afield as Australia to meet.

The retired nurses were given the grand tour of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) and the Heritage Building, led by staff governor, Patrick Moore.

Christine Bateman, who had arranged the tour with the Communications Team said: “The tour was a great source of information and we all thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

“The visit was so very nostalgic and bought back many fond memories of our training days. We learned that nurse training today is very different from that which we undertook, and that training continues to evolve, to meet the challenges it faces as time progresses.

“While it is difficult not to be impressed by the exceptionally modern environment of the new hospital, it was heartening to discover that the former hospital, where we all trained, was still in use and still architecturally impressive.

“We all agreed that our time spent in the Queen Elizabeth School of Nursing had been a happy one and prepared us well for life. Our friendships that were formed over fifty years ago have remained constant. We consider ourselves to be very fortunate indeed.”

The group started their training in July 1964 and finished four years later. In the 1960’s trainee nurses had to study for three years to obtain what was then SRN status and then had to complete a further year to obtain their 'Hospital Finals' badge.

Starting in Edgbaston Park Road, in two houses owned originally by the Cadbury family, trainee nurses were required to live at the hospital for two years before they could move out into the community to live from their third year. Their former houses, Priorsfield and Southfield, are now used by the University of Birmingham.

At the same time, the nurses were not permitted to marry – unless approved by the matron and were allowed out until 22:30 of an evening – late passes until 23:00 were permitted just once a week.

Mrs Bateman added: “We always had our ways and means of working the system; somebody would wait until the night sister had done her rounds at night and had checked that the nurses’ home doors were locked, and then we would put a wedge in the door, to enable us to sneak in late.

“We had such fun and made friends for life. We worked hard and played hard, often we could get into The Locarno for nothing – a nurses privilege – and could enjoy a night jiving and listening to a live band together.”