This weekend marks six decades since the group first met
Nurses 60th reunion on the day they all trained together at Liverpool’s Royal Infirmary in 1965. Photo by Colin Lane(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
It’s now been 60 years since a group of women once known as the “daffodil girls” first met and made friends for life in Liverpool. Through the generations, many from our city will remember training and working at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary on Pembroke Place.
Liverpool Infirmary started life on a site now occupied by St. George’s Hall, opening in 1749, before moving to Brownlow Hill in 1824. It became the Liverpool Royal Infirmary and was the location for the city’s first district nursing unit in 1862. It later moved again to Pembroke Place.
The infirmary became part of the newly formed NHS before closing with the development of the Royal Liverpool Hospital in 1978 and, by 1995, the building was bought by University of Liverpool. But, Collette Atkinson, 78, has fond memories of training at Liverpool Royal Infirmary in the 1960s.
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Forming a close bond with her cohort, they were known as “the daffodil girls” as they wore distinct yellow dresses which signalled to other staff members they were “the newbies” and training. This weekend marks 60 years since the group met – and they’ve never lost touch through the decades.
As part of the Liverpool ECHO’s How It Used To Be series, we spoke to Collette about her memories of Liverpool Royal Infirmary, the place where she made friends for life. Collette, originally from Everton, told the ECHO: “Times have changed for training now but we used to go in what we called PTS, Preliminary Training School.
The group all trained together at Liverpool’s Royal Infirmary in 1965(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
“We all met outside of the Royal Infirmary in Pembroke Place on September 6, 1965 to be bussed out to Woolton where the house was, a beautiful old house where we lived in. One day a week, we were shipped out to the Royal Infirmary to do one day hands on and all the other days were studying.
“Then we were released after eight weeks to do a placements on our various wards. A few of us knew one another at the time. There was a small group of us who went to college together in Liverpool to do a pre-nursing course.
“But the majority were all strangers. It was really very exciting, very nerve-wracking – but all something that we wanted to do.
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“We were very pleased to be together and we all got on well together. It was amazing really considering there were so many of us that didn’t know a lot of other people – we just sort of fitted in.”
After the eight weeks Collette said the group, originally made up of 29 students, all stayed at the the Royal Infirmary for varying amounts of time. From there, they were sent to various hospitals for other training, as well as doing general nursing within the Royal Infirmary itself. She said: “As the years went on, you realised the building was very, very special because it was so old.
“When we started training, the home sisters used to look after us because we had to live in the nurses’ home. We weren’t allowed to live out of the nursing home whatsoever. They were all lovely and very motherly.”
A Liverpool ECHO cutting from the group’s 20-year reunion (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
Outside of studying and working, Collette said friendships and bonds continued to grow with many of the girls socialising outside of work or going on day trips and holidays.
Collette said: “I remember some of the girls went on a caravan holiday together. I went on a holiday with one of my friends.
“This was all while we were training and different groups did different things. But, as a whole, we never actually did a big thing together except for reunions if we could all get together at certain times after we’d finished training.”
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Collette said she stayed working at the Royal until 1969 and later got married going on to work in Warrington Hospital. She then did industrial nursing and started having a family, later working in nursing homes until she retired at the age of 71.
Through the decades, the group has kept in touch with members now living across Merseyside, as well as elsewhere in the UK and even abroad in Australia, Canada and South Africa. Every few years, as many of the cohort as possible, reunite with numerous members of the group arranging the get together.
They have also contacted the ECHO on previous milestone dates such as their 20th anniversary to cover the special occasion. This weekend, on Saturday, September 6, marked 60 years to the day that the group first met. And, to celebrate, a number of them met at the Hilton Hotel, in Thomas Steers Way, to reminisce.
Collette said she can’t believe how much time has passed but she is thankful for the friendships she made and kept from her early days as a nurse. She added: “We’ve lost lots of friends over the years, with age, other things and people living abroad – but there is always somebody who’s in touch with somebody who maybe lives away or can’t manage to get to reunions.
The nurses all trained together at Liverpool’s Royal Infirmary in 1965(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
“We all got on really, really well. We all saw one another at some time in the hospital for three years.
“That is a long time to have that relationship with somebody and such a nice group of people. It’s the personal thing of meeting up with people and sharing memories.
“We sort of made a promise that we would not lose touch. That’s how good it was to work there with them all.”