Real Lives: Barbara will be nursing cups of tea from now on

Published on Saturday 30 May 2009 11:18

BARBARA Moncrieff, long serving auxiliary nurse at Roodlands Hospital, has retired after 29 years of caring for sick and injured in the local community.

Barbara Moncrieff, 67, was born Barbara Cox in Manchester on 4 January, 1943, the daughter of policeman Archibald Cox and his wife, Irene, a cook.

Her parents divorced shortly after she was born and when she turned three her mother married an army man, Sergeant Major Kenneth Lowrie, heralding a life of continual movement and change for the young Barbara.

Her stepfather took the family to postings in Carlisle, Oswestry, Cheshire and, when Barbara was 17, to Hong Kong.

"I absolutely loved all the moving around," said Barbara. "I loved seeing new places and meeting new people – it was fantastic."

Upon her return to England in 1960, she took a job at Marks & Spencer and fell in love with John Moncrieff, a young Scottish building contractor who was working in the store.

The pair dated throughout John's nine-month contract and when John returned to Haddington, Barbara was invited up to meet the family.

"Meeting the parents wasn't as casual as it is today," recalls Barbara. "I had to write a letter to his mum requesting her permission to come and visit.

"It was quite intimidating meeting them all as John is one of ten siblings, but they were all lovely."

Barbara and John were married in St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington, in 1961. Two years later their first child, Jacqueline, was born, swiftly followed by two more children, Patsie and Kim, in the next two years. Her fourth child, Michael, was born in 1972.

Throughout this time Barbara worked as a cleaner at Knox Academy, then took a part-time job at the Peter Potter cafe and bookshop. Once her children were old enough, she took a full-time job as an auxiliary nurse at Roodlands Hospital.

"You didn't need any training to be an auxiliary nurse in those days," she said.

"All of the training was done on the job and I was tasked with taking blood pressures and changing dressings, just simple everyday things, but it felt like hard work at the time.

"I loved it. I've always loved meeting people, I liked the work and the patients and the staff seemed to like me so I was very happy there.

"There were a lot of sad moments, of course. It was especially hard to watch children die, and I remember we used to see a lot of young men in motorcycle accidents.

"But there were always patients getting better too, and that was when I found the job really worthwhile..

"I'm really going to miss the place, which is why I've signed up to volunteer at the hospital's Women's Royal Voluntary Service cafe after my retirement.

"I just couldn't bear to leave it behind."

Barbara has just returned from a holiday to New Orleans, a joint retirement celebration and birthday gift to her Jazz-aficionado husband John.

As well as volunteering at the cafe, Barbara hopes to spend her retirement gardening, and spending time with her eight grandchildren and great-grandchild.