Wednesday 19 October 2005

Carry on Matron!

Today, we went to visit Aunty Kitty,who now lives in a residential home for the elderly,the home isnt a purpose built building,in fact it was once a convent,a beautiful house still.It has been sympathetically adapted ,whilst still retaining many lovely features .Maurice ,can remember being taught by some of the nuns,who had lived there,with not particular happy memories of some of them!!either he was a naughty little boy or some of them were tartars !bless em !

Kathleen Wall,was born in Ireland in 1920,in a small village near Limerick, called Killmallock.She was the youngest of seven children,so she had five sisters and a brother John,her sisters were Bridie,Teresa,Lilly,one who sadly died at a young age,and Maurices Mother ,Mary,fondly called May .

Aunty Kitty is a frail old lady now , but on a good day ,it is still possible to see a spark of the lady she was ,She went into the nursing profession,as a young lady ,and I believe,fell in love,with a Doctor who,broke off the engagement and her heart.She then threw herself into her job,she worked in many ,aspects of nursing ,and became extremely qualified, and attained the position as a  matron.I can imagine her ,the old school ,standing for no nonsense from either her staff or indeed patients alike.She actually nursed Spike Milligan at one stage in her career,when I commented on this,and asked what he was like, she dismissed me with Oh I didnt particularly like him myself........so there !!Old age can be so cruel sometimes, all that knowledge has left her now.She can remember though  what to do with a nice glass of sherry,indeed why not,at eighty five her work is done,so she sits and watches ,her carers at work ,and looks forward to her visits from her family .Shes lovely!

After we left Aunty Kitty, we went shopping and stocked up the freezer, and home ,where Im typing this up, on a compooter that has a mind of its own ,and wants to change size of text to suit itself no amount of correcting by me ,has changed it so you can see who had the last word !!!  

  Have a good whats left of the afternoon and evening friends ,

            Jan xxx

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

She sounds like a lovely lady.  I always liked Spike Milligan, he suffered so much with his manic depression. We have been having some real fun on ava,  being naughty girls today lol

Anonymous said...

Good of you to go see Aunt Kitty. I know she is glad when company comes. Sounds as if she had a very useful life. Helen

Anonymous said...

Jan, when it shrinks like that, back space to the last large letter and backspace again to delete that last large letter....start typing again and it should go back to the large print again! Works for me so hopefully it will for you!!!!
Aunt Kitty looks an amazing character, but then I love the Irish people (Rob is half Irish) such great personalities!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jan Its nice to see what Maurices Aunty Kitty looks like, nice ones of you and Maurice too.OOO i am a creep!! Did you take Aunty Kitty the maltersers?.. Pete has just come in from work and is going to get his maggots for tomorrow. Its pouring with rain here with thunder too..... Love Jeanxxx

Anonymous said...

Awww she's a dear and what a life of devotion she's had.  Spikes life is an interesting one too.  It's when you see people like these that it hits hard that old age can be cruel. Cheers Aunty Kitty, enjoy your sherry, you've earned it.  Thanks for letting us meet her Jan. Rache xx

Anonymous said...

She sounds wonderful, I can just imagine her as being a proper old school matron

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunt Kitty looks well and i am sure you made her day hope you enjoyed it too.  Reading earlier about your dog my Blue Roan Cocker used to do thing like the bed that he was not in as well, they are so funny.  Miss him a lot as I could never replace him, his name was Thor and a real character. Bye for now Love and take care Joan.

Anonymous said...

Here's how i fixed my font problem...What i do now is i type my entry without changing font type, size or colour...Once i have finished typing my entry i then highlight it in the box and change the font, the colour and the size...Hey presto it works now...Give that a try and see if it works...Lovely story about aunt kitty :o)     Caff xx

Anonymous said...

Don't you just love it when it starts doing stuff!!!! Lovely story!!

Su
x

Anonymous said...

Aunt Kitty looks very content, and sounds to have had a good life...Glad she enjoys her glass of Sherry she has earned the right to have them.... Hope you enjoyed you shopping trip...... - I think we have all had problems with on pc's toda one way or another......Ally

Anonymous said...

Aunt Kitty could tell a few tales and I would love to sit down and hear them,its sad she is now old and frail.Glad she enjoys a tipple of sherry!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely entry Jan.  Aunt Kitty must have so many tales she could tell. :-)

Sandra xxxx

Anonymous said...

Aunty Kitty sounds lovely - bless her!!  Thanks for sharing the story and photos with us :-)  I'm glad she has a family to go and visit her!!

Anonymous said...

Aunt Kitty sounds like a real character!! Bless her, it's so sad to see a person get old and frail isn't it? Jeannette.

Anonymous said...

Aunt Kitty looks lovely :)  I see many elderly people on my job and when i hear what jobs they had when they were younger, it's hard to believe they had very hard and demanding jobs when you see how frail they are now.  I am not getting older, i'm staying at 34 ;)

Jo xxxx

Anonymous said...

That is why I tell people, keep a written journal! No matter how dull or mundane YOU think your life is, it is pure gold to the rest of us.