Southport ex-nurse fondly recalls her 39 years of service in the NHS

By Robert Alcock

LOOKBACK'S special reports marking the 60th anniversary of the NHS have continued to generate responses from local people who worked for the service.
Mrs H M Bleackley of Threlfalls Lane wrote in to tell us about her 39 years' nursing experience - a great tally, although she commented she "could not top" the 48-and-a- half years spent in the NHS by fellow Churchtown resident Geoff White, who we profiled at the time of the anniversary.
Mrs Bleackley wrote: "I started my training at Clatterbridge Hospital [in Wirral] in 1945, when I was 16- and-a-half years old.
"I left there in 1948 (when the NHS was born) to start nursing at the Promenade Hospital and left there in 1951, when as Nurse Mary Yates I was married to RAF Sgt Harry Bleackley.
"I then worked at several hospitals in Southport - ie New Hall, Hawkshead Street Children's Hospital, as well as spending three years at Weston-super-Mare Hospital before returning to Southport and nursing at the Southport Infirmary.
"After serving three years as a district nurse, which I enjoyed very much, I continued to nurse at the Southport Infirmary until I had my first heart attack in 1984, after I had spent 39 years in nursing.
"I really loved my chosen career and was disappointed when I had to retire."