Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2013 | Page 30
FEATURE
and took us to Waterloo station.
We travelled down to Portsmouth
by train and were transferred to the
Isle of Wight ferry. We disembarked
at the end of Ryde Pier and took
the pier train to Ryde station,
where another ambulance stood by
waiting for us. The nurse who had
accompanied me all the way handed
over my suitcase to the ambulance
driver, said goodbye and returned on
the ferry to the mainland.
“The Royal National Hospital for
Diseases of the Chest (RNH) was an
imposing Victorian building, built
in a straight line about a quarter of
a mile long, situated on about 20
acres of land with extensive gardens
overlooking the sea at Ventnor
under-cliff.
“The building faced the south
and each block was a separate ward
consisting of two cottages, each
cottage with three floors and a
basement. The upper floors had six
bedrooms to each block, each with
French windows opening on to a
balcony overlooking the lawns. The
lower floors had sitting rooms, ward
kitchens, bathrooms, washrooms,
toilets and the ward offices.
“Many other facilities were
available in various parts of the
hospital and in the grounds and
out-buildings. There were excellent
medical and surgical facilities,
an operating theatre, a very busy
radiography department where I
had a great number of x-rays taken,
various laboratories, a physiotherapy
department and a dental surgery.
“There were libraries, games
rooms, a billiard room where I
enjoyed many games of snooker
during my latter months there, and
a shop which sold sweets, post cards,
writing paper, etc. Films were shown
in the patients’ library, which was
also used for whist drives; one of the
rare occasions when male and female
patients were allowed to mix.”
Alf continued: “The excellent
gardens were very popular with the
patients when we were allowed to
take what was known as ‘in walks’,
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a privilege afforded to those who
had sufficiently recovered from their
initial treatment in the ward.
“The next stage was the ‘out walks’
which allowed us to walk outside
the hospital grounds and many of
us walked as far as Ventnor, or took
organised coach trips to other parts
of the Island, an indication that
we were very soon to be allowed to
go home. There was also a hospital
radio, run entirely by the patients,
music and messages being broadcast
to the dining room and to every
ward via the patient’s headphones.
“At first, while still confined to my
bed, I passed my time making very
small models out of matchsticks,
the hobby which I had started at
home and continued at Ventnor.
I decided to try watercolour
painting for a change, at a time
when our Occupational Therapist
Miss Violet Pilling, who was a very
accomplished artist, was recruiting
would-be students for her art
classes, but I didn’t prove to be very
successful at this. However, Miss
Pilling turned out to be an excellent
teacher. She watched over my early
efforts almost every time she visited
the hospital and when satisfied
‘There were libraries and a
billiard room where I enjoyed
many games of snooker during
my latter months there’
Below: Patients enjoying Christmas lunch in the early 1950s
that my work was acceptable she
persuaded the Ward Sister to display
a sample on her notice board. I
knew then that I had passed the
supreme test!”
Alf added: “During my stay at
the hospital I was extremely lucky
to receive many visitors, as there
was little restriction to visiting. At
weekends it was a common sight,