Celebrating 150 years of community nursing in West Sussex

The happy occasion, organised by the West Sussex District Nurse Benevolent Fund and hosted by Mr and Mrs David Bowerman at their Champs Hill home, brought together around 20 of the retired nurses who had served communities throughout the county.

All of them were aged 80-plus '“ the oldest 102 '“ and for many it was a welcome opportunity to catch up with old friends they had not seen for years.

With the sun shining brightly, they demonstrated just how sprightly they were in retirement, making the most of a leisurely stroll around the magnificent grounds.

Among them were three former colleagues who worked side by side in the Chichester area in the years shortly after the second world war.

Joyce Chatfield, 87, came to Runcton as a district midwife in 1948 and served there until she retired in 1982.

"It was a very busy time for us in those days as lots of people were having babies just after the war," she said.

Joyce still lives in Chichester, as does Cicely Small, 86, who arrived in the area in 1947 as a district nurse after completing her general nursing training. She retired in 1977.

"It was a wonderful life, particularly in a place like Chichester because part of it was quite rural," she said.

"As a district nurse you were really taking part in other people's lives. Unlike in a hospital, you weren't just meeting your patient '“ you were meeting the whole family, in many ways becoming a friend of the family.

"Chichester was much smaller in those days, of course, and you knew someone from nearly every family."

Both Joyce and Cicely were delighted to meet up again with Margaret Sparks, 96, who worked with them in the Chichester area for ten years from 1946 and now lives in Washington.

How it all began

This year marks the 150th anniversary of district nursing in the UK '“ a crucial service which revolutionised the primary health care system.

District nursing began as a result of Liverpudlian merchant William Rathbone employing nurse Mary Robinson during his wife's fatal illness in 1859.

Having seen the benefits of personal healthcare in his own home, William decided to continue Mary's employment, sending her into the poorest districts of Liverpool in an attempt to relieve suffering and teach basic healthcare.

Florence Nightingale, working together to develop the service.

District nursing soon spread to other industrial cities across the country and finally to smaller towns and villages, with the beginning of the Rural District Nursing Association.

By 1938 there were 2,182 local district nursing associations in England and Wales.

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