One of the early functions (now extinct!) was an annual dinner. It is known that at least one eminent League member joined the League as she could not bear to miss the dinner! In 1932 some 217 members attended the dinner but Miss Littleboy recorded that the remainder "who had applied late, were unable to be accommodated at the dinner, and could only attend the reception held afterwards . . ." Times do not change nor people!!

The first nursing demonstration was given by Miss Rose Simmonds on her early dietetic work at The London - and she commented 'In England - in contrast to America - we have realised the importance of nurses helping in research work by means of accurate first hand reports on the effect on the patient of diets and their variation, by the accurate weighing of food not eaten - though served on a tray." The search for accuracy - and the need for research continues.

Some illustrations of these are shown in the exhibition which you will see later in the Princess Alexandra School of Nursing. A few examples may be helpful here.

1). The League and the National and International scene

When the League was established it became affiliated to the National Council of Nurses and through that with the International Council of Nurses. League members - including Clare Alexander, played a prominent part in the work of the N.C.N. Miss Daisy Bridges the General Secretary of the I.C.N. gave a talk to the League, and league members participated in discussions on the work of the Grand Council of the N.C.N. and in preparation for the I.C.N. Quadrennial Congresses. These were held in London in 1937, in America in 1947, Sweden in 1949, Brazil in 1953 when Muriel Hill represented the League. In Rome in 1957, 13 members attended including Peggy Daly, Margaret Deadman, Maureen Scholes, Edna Pope - and me, Miss A.K. Burgess, Miss Ceris Jones and Miss Muriel Hill also attended representing other bodies. In 1961, Miss Ceris Jones went to Australia, and Miss Burgess and Dorothy Buchanan also went.

In 1962 the N.C.N. was amalgamated with the R.C.N. to form the R.C.N. NCN. UK. In 1965 at the I.C.N. Congress in Frankfurt, Phyllis Friend was a delegate from the Florence Nightingale Memorial Committee and I was a delegate from the Rcn of which I was then Vice Chairman of Council.

In 1969 I had the privilege of speaking on Education and Training of Nurses at the ICN Congress in Montreal and in 1973 Miss Day, Mary Salter and Anne Field went to Mexico. In 1977 the Congress was held in Tokyo and later this year, Joy Robbins, Anne Johnson, a Ward Sister, and I are setting off to Los Angeles, where we shall meet many other League members! These occasions are social gatherings - but they also provide opportunities for professional visits, discussions, and sharing facts, ideas and aspirations. The chance to meet League members from other countries, and to make contacts for professional visitors is of incalculable benefit.

Miss Gwyneth Ceris Jones was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal of the International Red Cross - the highest International nursing award.

National Recognition

League members decorated during the past 50 years include -

M.B.E. - Lilian Freeborn, Margaret McEwan, Doris Bulley, Phyllis Dillistone, Gladys Martindale, Elizabeth Major, Ida Latham and Wendy Cross.

O.B.E. - Dorothy White and myself and to Clare, Lady Mann later awarded the C.B.E.

Phyllis Friend awarded C.B.E. in 1972 and D.B.E. in 1980.

Damaris Reynolds, Sister Sickroom awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 1978.

Royal College of Nursing & N.C.N. U.K.

The link between the professional organisations for Nurses in the U.K. and the League has been forged by members in branches, sections and centres. Miss Muriel Hill was Chairman of the Tutor Section from 1957 to 1960 and I had the honour of acting as Vice Chairman and then Chairman of Council Rcn, and Deputy President from 1972 to 1974 and from 1977 to 1979.

Tredegar House - the preliminary training school had been established for probationers to enter before the turn of the century, and the "class system" whereby senior ward sisters held classes for the theoretical and practical instruction of their nurses persisted throughout the decades whilst Miss Luckes, and Miss Monk were Matrons, and during the early years following Miss Littleboy's appointment. Sisters-in-Charge at Tredegar House during the past 50 years included Miss Scotland who retired in 1935, Miss Vera Morley, Miss Winifred Huntley, Mrs Constance Cox, nee Brown, Miss Jane McCreath, Miss Peggy Daly and Miss Doris Browning.

In 1935 Miss Littleboy announced to the League that the "class system was to be amended, and the theoretical teaching was to be undertaken by two sister tutors - Miss Dorothy Harvey assisted by Miss Clare Alexander on her return from the King's College of Household and Social Science where she had studied to become a tutor, after gaining the Cowdray Scholarship of the Royal College of Nursing.

Ten years later on August 1st 1945, whilst Miss Alexander was Matron and Miss Annie Harris, Senior Sister Tutor, the system of training was developed further with the introduction of the Class Day System (subsequently called the Study Day System). Miss Harris, who was a Bachelor of Science, had been a teacher for many years when she took up her training at The London Hospital in 1930. After qualifying and working as a staff nurse in hospital and on the private nursing staff she became Sister and then Sister Tutor, a post she held until her death in 1951. She quietly but firmly organised the teaching at sector hospitals, throughout the Second World War, maintaining contact with student nurses who were evacuated and inspiring many of them to consider nurse teaching as a career.

The first Study Days for Ward Sisters were introduced in 1949 - at first as study days of orientation for newly appointed ward sisters but continuing for all sisters at least twice during the year.

In 1949 the Review records Monica Roger's impressions of the Ward Sister's course she had attended  this was the first of the ward sisters' courses arranged by the King's Fund. In many subsequent reviews others record their experiences of similar courses.

The changing pattern of Nursing education and the developments of differing courses are illustrated in the Exhibition, but the following brief information is included - "for the record" and the next 50 years!

The Tutorial System began in 1962, and is fully described in the Review and the nursing press. In 1968 the course for S.E.N. and SRN/Degree associated course began, and under the vigilance of Derry Wilmot, Roger Coward's film "Not so much a training. . ." was produced.

In 1967. The opening of the building The Princess Alexandra School of Nursing took place on April 25th by H.R.H. Princess Alexandra - fourteen years ago to the date! At that time "Tredegar House" became part of the whole course, and post-basic clinical courses of preparation for registered and enrolled nurses in highly specialised nursing were being planned and undertaken, to come under the aegis of the J.B.C.N.S. when it was established.

In 1932 - an advertisment appeared in the Review for a textbook "General Nursing - a text book for the State Examination - written by Alan Perry, Surgeon, and Miss Dorothy Harvey, Sister Tutor at L.H." There are not many textbooks by nurses who are League members - with the exception of Miss Powell's Aids to Orthopaedic Nursing and M.E. Crispin's "Handbook of Practical Nursing," and Joy Robbins' "The Profession of Nursing."