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| Newspaper article from the Daily Express, 1962 |
Life Begins...
I
suppose lots of new mums keep records of their children as babies just
as mums of the past have. My mum was no exception, and I still have the
little book in which she entered details about my birth, as well as when
I first smiled, walked and talked. Among the few things she kept was
this newspaper cutting (above) from the Daily Express, dated Monday 22
October 1962. She kept it because the lady in the photo was the midwife
who brought me into the world in that very year.
Unlike
today, giving birth at home was the norm up until about the 1970's. So
the district midwife was the person called upon when labour got under
way. As the BBC TV series 'Call the Midwife' illustrates, these
midwives served all sectors of society and often worked in less than
ideal conditions. Very often their only mode of transport was by bicycle
or on foot.
Contents
- A Thankful Community
- And There's More...
A Thankful Community
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| Close up of Ann Brown |
The lady in the
article above, namely Ann Brown of Bentley, was retiring in 1962 after
delivering her 4,000th baby. This what the article says:
'Cheering,
shouting and dancing down the street, scores of children follow Nurse
Ann Brown. They are a few of the 4,000 she has brought into the world
during her 35 years as midwife at the pit village of Bentley, near
Doncaster.
But
now - with the birth of the 4,000th baby - she is retiring, aged 64.
And this was the children's way of saying farewell to her, as Mrs Brown
walked home from church yesterday.
Health officials and her colleagues are to say a formal "goodbye" later, and villagers are arranging a V.I.P. retirement party.
Said
Mrs Brown: "It has been such a happy and yet sad week for me. I am
happy that people should be so kind to me, but sad that I am retiring.
It was a wonderful gesture by the children."
She
has averaged 1,000 miles a year walking through the village streets.
She cannot drive a car, and every time she tried a bicycle she fell off.
Mrs Brown has twice delivered triplets and for the past few years has
been delivering the children of babies she brought into the world.
Now
she plans a very quiet retirement. "I feel I've earned it," she says
"Mind you, I shan't object to delivering more babies in an emergency."
The line under the photo reads 'Nurse Ann Brown gets a Pied Piper-type farewell from some of the 4,000 children she has helped into the world.'
I
hope this dedicated lady went on to have a long and happy retirement,
she certainly deserved it. Perhaps some of you knew her or, like me,
were delivered into her capable hands? Let me know.
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| Ann Brown at her retirement presentation. Photo courtesy of Colin Bradbury. |
And There's More...
I found
another newspaper cutting among some old photos. From the Doncaster
Gazette of October 18th 1962 I now realize that I had mistakenly read
the year on the other cutting as 1968 (bad printing), so having amended
that here's a transcription of this new find:
'For
35 years a busy woman has covered the streets of Bentley on foot on
errands which have literally meant life for many people - more than
3,500 in fact. In her neat and trim uniform she has become a figure as
familiar to the population as the policemen and postmen, and far more
intimately acquainted with those whom she serves. At the end of this
month her tiring beat will terminate, for the W.R.C.C. Health Service's
district midwife, Nurse Ann Brown, of Askern Road, officially retires.
The
actual date is October 28, a day before her 65th birthday. "But," says
Nurse Brown "retirement will not mean a period of idleness, because I
shall keep in contact with my colleagues and the many friends I have
made, and will continue my work with the Doncaster branch of the Royal
College of Midwives, of which I have been chairman for 12 years."
Born
in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, Nurse Brown moved to Bentley with her
young daughter in 1924, to join her late husband who three years
previously had started work at Bentley Colliery. Although working as a
miner, he was a keen member of the St John Ambulance service, which
influenced Nurse Brown's decision to make midwifery a career. She went
on a course of training at Liverpool and returned to Bentley in 1927
with her qualifications and ambitions.
"I
seem to have got on with the people right from the start." Nurse Brown
said, "I have always been pleased with their attitude towards me and the
co-operation they have given. I have now brought considerably more than
3,500 babies into the world, including ten sets of twins and two sets
of triplets. Strangely enough, the triplets all arrived in the same
year.'
Friend to Hundreds
'In
the course of her duties, Nurse Brown must have walked "hundreds of
miles" she says. She has never owned a cycle or a car, but has relied on
the bus service and a pair of sturdy legs.
"In
my earlier years I had an accident when learning to ride a bicycle, and
somehow never regained the confidence to ride again or learn to drive a
car. But I have found walking a pleasant and healthy exercise, though
nowadays, particularly on night calls, I rely on the county ambulance
service which has been a great help."
Nurse
Brown has been connected with Bentley child welfare clinic since it was
established in the welfare park pavillion 32 years ago. She has been
counsellor and friend to literally hundreds of mothers, many of whom
will be joining Nurse Brown's colleagues and V.I.P.'s of the county
health service at a farewell get-together they are planning for October
24 in the Pavilion.'
__________
Alison Vainlo
First written 2014, updated 2020
