13. Planning for Christmas

Cast your mind backwards - not so much to the week leading up to Christmas each year - but to the week(s) BEFORE the pre-Xmas week at Joyce Green Hospital. The "pre" pre-Christmas week, if we can call it that ?

The hectic busyness and frenzied activities concerned with the the "proper" pre-Xmas period hadn't yet begun (because certain things were only allowed to happen could from around 20th Dec), but if you think about it carefully there where nonetheless certain happenings and traditions which one began to see happening and also to "feel" in the atmosphere even at this "pre pre" stage, preceding Christmas.

Stop and think for a minute (if you have got the time !) about some of the things that HAD to be done or were usually going on during this 10 day period that we are considering at the moment.

Remember ward "Bran Tubs" for staff ? Each member of ward staff would draw out a slip of paper from a pot bearing the name of another member of the staff and would then become responsible for buying a suitable present ("no more than x or y pounds in value") for that person and would then become responsible for depositing it in a festive wrapper in a decorated tub in time for Christmas ?

Although this type of event could be good fun, even leading to explosions of laughter when the great day for opening the tub gifts arrived, this sort of event did sometimes cause sleepness nights for various junior nurses, especially if they found themselves having to carefully chose a gift for someone much more senior to them, whose tastes they knew nothing about or with whom they might not have been getting on with particularly well !

Also at this point in the calendar, too, Ward Sisters were very often expected to plan ahead and, having decided which patients were to still likely to be "in" on Christmas Day itself, would arrange for one or two of the nurses to go out on shopping expeditions to buy small gift items which would then have to be wrapped up ready to go under the ward Christmas tree once the ward had been installed during the 'proper' Pre-Christmas period.

Do you remember where the money used to come for these extra creature comforts ? Sometimes monies were found from hospital endowment funds or patient amenity funds (courtesy perhaps of the W.R.V.S.) but very often - especially when it came to paying for items of food and drink which would be laid out in ward side-rooms for 'Christmas hospitality' purposes - this money was raised via raffles. Thus one feature of this "pre-pre Christmas" period that I distinctly remember was the task of having to sell raffle tickets, associated with huge baskets of fruit, boxes of chocolates and bottles of the hard stuff, to ward visitors and relatives during visiting periods.

Also during this "run-up period" practises of various sorts would begin (or continue perhaps, in the case of preparations already under way). Scratch choirs were frequently cobbled together and caused to rehearse by the incumbent hospital chaplains and priests, in order to shaw up the musical renderings which were going to be offered shortly as integral parts of the forthcoming religious celebrations within the hospital.

But I also have fond memories of some very "mixed" staff groups who came together to produce the successful annual hospital pantomines in the main hall of West Hill Hospital.

The previously unrecognised talents of midwives, ambulance personnel, medical secretaries, X-ray personnel, catering staff and myriads of others could quite literally be observed being fashioned into shape through regular practises before the "real" pre-Christmas period. Precious evenings were set aside and these dedicated members of staff, who were usually already busy-enough were put through their paces until the Christmas rush approached and no further time could be spared. Then with "Nowell" looming all these minor activities, including pantomime practises, were temporarily down-scaled until the great day had come and gone.

Perhaps you have special memories of things that began to happen (or needed to be done) in these annual "pre" rush-hour periods at Joyce Green ? Yes, ward Christmas trees had to be ordered, numbers for ward meals "guess-imated", tickets purchased for hospital dances from Admin ... but I wonder right now - as you look backwards - what special memories YOU retain in your heart ?

Have a good run-up to the forthcoming pre-Christmas period, won't you ?