Sharing Family Ephemera

My mother was a nurse. She trained as a psychiatric nurse in a small cottage hospital in Midlothian. Then she took her general nursing at the Western General in Edinburgh. Her elder sister followed in her footsteps in becoming psychiatric nurse and training at the same cottage hospital. 

My mother saved nothing. Fortunately, her sister saved everything (I'm sure there is a balance in there somewhere, but for this, I am not complaining). I visited my cousin last week. She was the one tasked with cleaning out her mother's house. Her mom and dad had lived in the house for 60 years. 

My cousin brought out the postcards and telegrams my aunt had saved. And as conversations go, we began talking about our mother's lives in Scotland. My cousin then handed me this gem:

My mum would have had one as well, but didn't keep hers, sadly.  I can imagine how often this little gem was used by each student nurse. Although we couldn't find a date of publication, my mum and aunt were in nurses training in the early 1950s (1950-52 as a start date).

I enjoyed seeing not only how much medicine has progressed, but just the depth of what they had to learn. 

Brochs Are Abundant in Scotland's Northern Isles.

Scotland’s Northern Isles are littered with evidence of life from prehistoric times. The neolithic sites at Skara Brae in Orkney and Jarlshof in Shetland are evidence that people have lived in the area for more than 4000 years. 

Remnants of Brochs are more widespread and are evidence of life from the Iron Age. Perhaps one of the largest, and quite well preserved is the Broch of Gurness in Orkney. The Broch is a village with as many as 14 homes. There were also at least 7 burials. The village is estimated to be about 2500 years old.

Broch of Gurness

The Broch at Jarlshof seems to have been built over earlier settlements. There is a large, well-preserved Broch in Lerwick (Clickimin) as well as one in Caithness. 

Brochs were built near the sea and over a cistern. Water was thought to be important to the rituals of the Iron Age people. Indeed, each Broch is built over a cistern. The purpose of the cistern is not entirely clear, but it is believe that the water within it was used for ceremonial ritual. Each home within the village had a “tank” full of water. This was generally near the hearth so that heated rocks from the fire could be placed into the tank and warm the water within. 

Tank

Remnants of two homes, each with a central hearth

Around the edge of each village is a rampart or ditch. This may have been for protection but again, the purpose is unclear. Each village also had a communal midden where scraps were thrown. Excavation has been able to tell us about the diets of the Iron Age people, and although the sea was abundant with fish, very few were actually consumed. The people tended to prefer limpets, cockles and other shellfish.

The Broch of Gurness is built on the edge of Eynhallow Sound. Eynhallow, one of many islands that make up the archipelago of Orkney. Eynhallow was once home to about two dozen people but a fever in 1851 led to the dismantling of the homes to make them uninhabitable and residents who were still living, moved to mainland or to nearby Rousay.