Annie Groves - The District Nurses of Victory Walk

‘That’s the spirit,’ said Fiona.

Alice glanced at her friend. She knew it hadn’t been as simple as that. But that was Edith’s story to tell.

There was a nervous knock at the door and the young woman who’d let them in tentatively balanced a laden tea tray as she stepped across to the desk. She didn’t meet their eyes, but kept her gaze towards the floor and her mousy brown hair fell forward, obscuring her pale face.

‘Thank you, Gladys,’ said Fiona, as Gladys scooted out again. She poured three cups from the pot. ‘I wouldn’t like to give you the impression that you’ll be waited on hand and foot here. This is purely because it’s a special occasion, to welcome you to your new home.’ She glanced up as she passed the cups across the desk. ‘We see to ourselves most of the time when it comes to cups of tea or that sort of thing. There are three meals a day served downstairs on the lower ground floor, all provided by our esteemed Cook, and you will of course maintain your own rooms in spick-and-span order. We must value hygienic practices at all times.’

‘Of course,’ Alice agreed hurriedly. It was what they’d been used to, after all. She gratefully sipped her tea, realising that her last cup had been at an unearthly hour that morning, and felt like a long time ago.

‘Our district room is on the ground floor – you’ll have passed the door to it on your way in,’ Fiona went on. ‘I must warn you that, although we are by and large a friendly establishment here, any nurse who leaves that room less tidy than she found it will incur immediate wrath. There can be absolutely no exceptions. I trust I need say no more about that most vital rule.’

Alice hastily swallowed her tea and nodded vigorously. The district room was where all supplies and equipment were kept, with which each nurse replenished the contents of her own Gladstone bag that went everywhere with her. To fall foul of the superintendent’s rule would be to risk another nurse being unable to find something important, possibly in an emergency. That could never be allowed to happen.

‘Yes, Fiona. I mean no,’ added Edith.

‘Good,’ said the superintendent, setting down her cup of tea on its serviceable saucer. ‘All finished? Excellent. Now, follow me. I’m afraid you’ll have to hit the ground running as we are extremely busy right now. Which is why we’re so glad to recruit the pair of you together, of course. You’ll be needed just as soon as you’ve had a moment to catch your breath. Someone will bring up your big cases, but please take your bags. I’ll show you to your rooms. You’re on the top floor, so I hope you’ve got good legs. Well, if you haven’t already, you soon will have.’

Alice and Edith exchanged a glance as they obediently followed the diminutive superintendent. Their previous matron would sooner have died than make a comment about their legs. Clearly things were very different around here, and Alice had the distinct impression that, whatever else they were in for, it wasn’t going to be boring.

Alice had barely had time to unpack and settle herself in a Spartan but immaculately clean attic room when her first callout came. A young mother was worried about her baby, who seemed to be running an unusual temperature. One of the local doctors had referred her to the district nurses – could somebody come that afternoon?

The message reached Alice just as she’d found her hairbrush and managed to give her hair a quick tidy as she peered into the small mirror perched on top of the chest of drawers. When not pinned up under her uniform hat or cap, her dark blonde locks reached to her shoulders in natural waves, but it was rare for her to wear her hair down. She was settling it back into its usual neat bun when there was a knock on her door.

‘Come—’ she began, but before she could even finish her sentence, in burst a young woman in nurse’s uniform, big blue eyes gazing at Alice with frank curiosity.

‘Are you Miss Lake? I’m Mary Perkins and I’ve got the room at the end of this corridor,’ the new arrival announced. ‘Sorry, you’re needed already. Only this minute got here, haven’t you? I’ve been here for two months so I can show you the ropes. We’ll get to know each other properly later, but if your bag is all ready to go, you’d better come with me.’

‘I’m Alice,’ said Alice, grabbing her bag, which she’d prepared in advance, and reaching for her navy coat. ‘But I haven’t got a bike yet.’

‘Not to worry, it’ll be around the side, they always are,’ said Mary Perkins, who Alice judged to be about Edith’s age, a couple of years younger than herself. ‘This house is a doddle to find, and you’ll be going there often if I’m any judge, and I can tell you right now I’m pretty good at guessing these things.’ She set off at a great pace and it was all Alice could do to keep up as her new colleague dashed along the narrow attic corridor and down the main set of stairs.

‘No running! Nurse Perkins, is that you?’ came a grim voice from the storey below.

‘Bloody old busybody,’ Mary muttered under her breath, but she did at least slow to a fast walk. ‘Have you met Gwen yet? No? Well, you soon will. She’s Fiona’s deputy, but don’t pay her any mind. Look, this is the way to the side door, it’ll save you time. That’s the district room, and that’s the drying room for your cloak when you’ve been out in the rain, but you can see all that later.’ She ducked around a corner and led Alice out into a sunny yard.

Alice realised that – as it was on the corner of the road – the nurses’ home had a large area to the side. One wall had been turned into an informal bike shed, with a light timber roof balanced on the top ridge, and a makeshift rack propped so that a dozen or so cycles could be stored beneath it. Mary made her way along and paused at the end. ‘These are the spare bikes – one for you and one for the other new nurse.’

‘How can you tell? They all look alike,’ Alice wondered.

‘We all put something on our bike to show it’s ours. We’re not meant to but we do.’ Mary pointed to a bike at the far end. ‘See the one with the bit of blue ribbon around the bell? That’s mine. Silly really, but when I was walking out with this chap, he said I looked lovely in blue because it went with my eyes, so I got myself some ribbon to trim my hat, and that was what was left over. Turns out the ribbon lasted longer than he did.’ She shrugged, not overly concerned. ‘I say, have you got a chap?’

Alice took a step back. She wasn’t accustomed to such direct questions from someone she’d only just met. ‘No,’ she said shortly and then, realising it sounded rude to be so abrupt, ‘I haven’t had time, after studying so hard. Anyway, I didn’t spend all those years training just to give it up to get married.’

‘Quite right,’ said Mary. ‘Only I wish they weren’t quite so strict about the rules. In by ten o’clock, no men on the premises, there’s hardly any fun to be had. Still, if you aren’t bothered about that then that’s all right.’

Alice thought that Edith would find a way around the restrictions within the week, if her past history was anything to go by. But she didn’t offer that piece of information to Mary. Instead she asked, ‘Where am I going now?’

‘Jeeves Place,’ said Mary. ‘It’s hard to miss. You go back the way you’d have come this morning as far as the high road. Go straight over – that’s Jeeves Street. The road one further down, parallel to it, is Jeeves Place. Easy. Number nine. Patient’s name is Kathleen Berry, well, that’s the mother. Not sure what her baby’s called.’

‘I expect I’ll find out soon, then,’ said Alice, placing her leather bag in the basket of the bike and pushing it carefully towards the side gate. ‘Wish me luck. If I’m not back by teatime, send out a search party.’