N/A

01/09/1917

35

N/A

24/04/1915

30

Co. Down, 

17/01/1917

38.

N/A

15/10/1917

N/A

N/A

01/1916

N/A

N/A

27/06/1916

25

N/A

04/1916

N/A

Kent

08/1914

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

28/12/1916

23

Berks.

29/12/1917

N/A

N/A

12/05/1915

N/A

Yorks.

11/04/1917

19

Miss Emily Clare Haslam
FRAN P :)

N/A

26/05/1917

27




Miss Ethel Louise Murdock

N/A

25/01/1917

21

Aesthetic bed: Elle has a moodboard on which beds decorated with poppy petals or lights or sheets. One stood out to me, which was the one with string coming off the bottom frame, cascading outwards onto the floor with little ping pong balls on the end (will try and source the picture). Was thinking we could adapt that idea and instead of little ping pong balls we could use scraps of letters or poetry or pieces of fabric, because this would be the bed of George, a soldier we never actually see. This bed would be scattered with little pieces such as medals, pictures, letters, sketches and other items to depict George.

Sound ideas: little battery powered speakers hidden around the house with continuous pieces of music, poems read aloud, a hubbub of ward noises and the footsteps of the Matron.

Elle had the idea of the house getting more intimate the smaller the spaces get. So for instance, the Great Hall is a hustle and bustle of abstract, decorative movement pieces and large-scale generalised scenes such as the sheets, bunting, nurse’s dance and the ghost story. Moving into the terrace and the ward we get more personal stories from the soldiers, the visit of Dr Bean, the new nurse story-line and the love story unfolding.  In the gardens we get the nurse’s poems and stories of their friendship. Then in the cinema room we have the movies and the one-to-one nightmares of the nurses and soldiers being sent to the front, and intimate tales of their before-during-after experience of the war. 

Wounded and traumatised, our job begins as they are wheeled through the door.

New stories, and new faces; we treat them all with care. Regardless of what happened at war, we will always be there. 

Firm friendships are formed as we walk alongside one another, the soldiers also become companions and we think of them like our own brother. 

Bonjour, Hello, ay up, good day. 

One minute in yorkshire, the next in france, if we could stay together, we wouldn’t go away. 

Bandaging, cleaning - our work never ends.

Temple Newsam is our home and we will forever cherish our friends. 

In the shadows of despair and through flickers of sparks and light, I am injured in the war. I am brought back to England, then Leeds to Beckett’s Park Hospital. My leg, they fear that the infection is spreading fast, so with a scalpel and saw they remove it quick. They send me to Temple Newsam to recover and recuperate at will. A house like this I never saw before, and for the first few days I stare around in awe.

In my head I relive the war, thunderous bangs and shaking ground. Men on both sides live in fear of never seeing again those they hold dear. Farmers’ fields are not the only thing destroyed there. All these are the endless bodies of the dead. Heaven’s angels attend to the dead, and the living and breathing are in hospital beds.

In the Great Hall, I awaken to the smell of tobacco smoke and the chatter of men. Men who saw the terror, as did I on those frightful battlefields. They miss limbs; burned bodies and healing holes that shells exposed down to the bone.

VAD, they call the girls in here with their pristine sterile gowns. They are overlooked by sisters and matron in turn. Lady Wood is in charge and gives the final word, whether in French to the Belgians, or King’s tongue to the English and the Irish as one. Girls from the local towns do charring and give a helping hand.

Foreign families from Belgium fill the stable blocks, always smile and give a nod when passing me on the terrace. They send their children to the local school and they soon come past singing our national anthem. They soon learn the way of the English land but their parents try hard to understand.

We sit here safe at night because of our great grandparents of yesterday: they fought for their country of red, white and blue. For this we must thank them with our hearts, take off our hats and bow our heads with respect for all those living and dead.

By Chrissy Byrne

-       Where are you from?

-       How old are you?

-       Where did you train? 

-       What is your family situation? Siblings? Parents?

-       What are their jobs? Are they at war?

-       How long have you been a VAD?

-       Why did you decide to be a VAD?

-       Are you single? Married?

-       How long have you been at Temple Newsam?

-       Do you like it?

-       What do you do in your limited spare time? 

-       Have you worked at any other hospitals?

-       Had you been to Leeds before you came to TN? 

 

- Which hospital were you at before TN?
- How do you feel about potientally being sent back?
Do you have any war stories?
Do you have a girlfriend? wife?
Do you have a favourite nurse?

 

** It is important to understand that her specialist area applies to Australia**

 

Healing 

-       They would have used massage to help recover the muscles but more often than not a massage specialist would have come in to do this: they would have also have done electric therapy for muscles

-       The changing of dressings/ bandages is not too dissimilar to today

-       They would have done operations in auxiliary hospitals but not major ones and these would be done by a surgeon who would have possibly been part of the hospital

 

 

Tasks the VAD’s did/ Entertainment

-       Dispensing of medications 

-       The VAD’s and visiting ladies would have come in to occupy the soldiers with things such as French lessons or embroidery- in Alexia’s studies she found images of embroidered tunics the men made for the canteen staff

-       There would have been concerts in the grounds

-       Letter writing would have been done from the soldier’s home and by the nurses

-       Some hospitals had their own magazines and both the nurses and soldiers could have things published in them so they would have done some writing with this in mind

-       In the magazines they would have sometimes published portraits of single nurses

-       They would have made sure the soldiers were doing physical activities and these would differ depending on their wounds and injuries- if they were going back to the frontline they would have made to do physical tasks like star jumps and sit ups to make sure they were up to it 

-       10  hour shifts- 11 days out of a fortnight 

 

Class/ VADS

-       VAD’s were usually from an upper/ middle class area 

-       The nurses and soldiers would sometimes misbehave and there are accounts of pregnancies and marriages from the war 

-       Tension because the nurses were trained and worked hard and then volunteers could just be a nurse- there were signs which would say VAD’S not allowed 

 

Why the soldiers were there

-       Anything that needed rehabilitation

-       A lot of the time it was a physical injury- people lost toes and fingers

-       Some of the time it was from actual diseases such as tuberculosis/ influenza 

-       ‘Shell Shock’ stopped being used as a phrase in 1916- it would be war neurosis but people still said it 

-       On average a man would visit rehabilitation 2.6 times

-       They would have been there because they were near family or everywhere would be full 

 

How they would get from the battlefield to Leeds

-       They would go on a stretch bearer or make themselves to regimental aid post 

-       Then if they were bad they would go to casualty clearing then evacuated by ambulance train then general hospital then auxiliary 

-       These trains would be bringing stuff to the battlefield and that was priority though 

-       There was a hospital ship to get over the border 

 

Bandages/ Treatment

-       Gauze/ pressure/ well above and well below the sore 

-       If there was an upper leg wound there would be a Thomas splint will post picture reduced deaths from 85% to 16% 

-       Eye wounds – Andrew Banji book called faces from the front 

 

 

What would you want as an audience member:

-       Personal stories and social interactions/ what their life was like 

-       Really do some hotspotting