Since the NHS was set up in 1948 thousands of women and men from Ireland have come to train and nurse in the UK.
Recruitment drives throughout the 1950s and 60s saw NHS staff travel around Ireland to interview and sign up mainly Irish teenage girls for nurse training. Irish Nurses in the NHS shares the experiences and lives of nurses who travelled from Ireland and helped build the health service over these decades and beyond.
In this series you'll hear from dozens of these nurses about their motivations to leave home, how they adapted to their new lives in Britain and what their training entailed, including many funny memories as well as some sad ones.
It will look at questions like what was it like to leave Ireland at 18 and arrive in a new and unfamiliar country? How were they welcomed and what was life like in Britain? This podcast series aims to answer these questions and brings to life the untold stories of Irish nurses in the NHS.
This podcast has come about as part of exciting collaboration with the London Irish Centre. It is based on research conducted by Professor Louise Ryan of London Metropolitan University and hosted by radio producer and retired nurse, Grainne McPolin.
Thanks to London Irish Centre; Irish Government department of Foreign Affairs; Irish Abroad Unit and Burdett Trust for Nursing, Liverpool University’s Institute of Irish Studies and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation for their continued support.
Please note that the names of some contributors have been changed in order to protect their identities.
Credits:
Music: ‘Resonance’ by Amala Reidun Schlesinger & Paul de Grae
Assistant Production on episode 1: Five Elements Media
Branding & Marketing Kelly Crichton
Cover Design: London Irish Centre
Photos by the kind courtesy Bernie Naughton and Noreen Schierz (processed by Fiona Freund).
Studio Pat's Tracks Recording Studios Causeway Co Kerry
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Since the NHS was set up in 1948 thousands of women and men from Ireland have come to train and nurse in the UK.
Recruitment drives throughout the 1950s and 60s saw NHS staff travel around Ireland to interview and sign up mainly Irish teenage girls for nurse training. Irish Nurses in the NHS shares the experiences and lives of nurses who travelled from Ireland and helped build the health service over these decades and beyond.
In this series you'll hear from dozens of these nurses about their motivations to leave home, how they adapted to their new lives in Britain and what their training entailed, including many funny memories as well as some sad ones.
It will look at questions like what was it like to leave Ireland at 18 and arrive in a new and unfamiliar country? How were they welcomed and what was life like in Britain? This podcast series aims to answer these questions and brings to life the untold stories of Irish nurses in the NHS.
This podcast has come about as part of exciting collaboration with the London Irish Centre. It is based on research conducted by Professor Louise Ryan of London Metropolitan University and hosted by radio producer and retired nurse, Grainne McPolin.
Thanks to London Irish Centre; Irish Government department of Foreign Affairs; Irish Abroad Unit and Burdett Trust for Nursing, Liverpool University’s Institute of Irish Studies and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation for their continued support.
Please note that the names of some contributors have been changed in order to protect their identities.
Credits:
Music: ‘Resonance’ by Amala Reidun Schlesinger & Paul de Grae
Assistant Production on episode 1: Five Elements Media
Branding & Marketing Kelly Crichton
Cover Design: London Irish Centre
Photos by the kind courtesy Bernie Naughton and Noreen Schierz (processed by Fiona Freund).
Studio Pat's Tracks Recording Studios Causeway Co Kerry
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode of the Irish Nurses in the NHS Podcast Series is dedicated to the Irish nurses who migrated to Liverpool. We hear the stories about how they came to settle in the Merseyside city nicknamed the ‘Capital of Ireland’. We hear about the journey over to Liverpool on the cattle boat – Annie was only 17 years old when she took the cattle boat to Liverpool; the "Oh yes, loads of cattle on them, very little people on them but lots of cattle on them." We meet John, who is in his 90s, who followed his family to Liverpool and pursued a career in nursing in his early 20s. He speaks of the importance of the Irish Community Centre in bringing second and third generation Irish together; "I always say if it wasn’t for the second generation Irish, we wouldn’t have the club because they’re more active in organising." Other voices from the Liverpool story speak fondly about discovering the ballroom of romance upstairs in the Liverpool Odeon.
Credits:
Music: ‘Resonance’ by Amala Reidun Schlesinger & Paul de Grae
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.