Employment

Went nursing at Waikato Hospital,

"My wages went mostly to help keep the family".

"The freedom of doing what you wanted to do"

Discusses work experience in Tauranga (before she went nursing), furnishing shop and grocers.

Left school at 15 with School Certificate, couldn't start nursing until 17. Discusses work conditions,

"If you had what they call a short shift you actually only had 8 hours between your one week of duty and another, and you used that for sleeping I can tell you"

Enjoyed working on the wards,

"The ward sisters really were...dragons"

Talks about nursing duties and rates of pay,

"You could almost say it was non-existent".

"The occasional flare- up when we would all pile into a taxi for two and six, and go down to the local diner, dinner cart and buy a feed of fish and chips, that was the height of luxury, and it was all you could do to afford it between six of you"

Talks about nursing fun,

"We didn't have any access to alcohol because of our working hours so quite often

...we would go out to one of the pubs that's fairly close to Hamilton...and you would have a definite sequence of knocks which you would perform on the back

door, and then an exchange of a crate of rattling bottles and a few crisp notes would swop hands, and you would race off back towards Hamilton , sometimes

with a police car in pursuit"

Mentions police patrolling Hamilton Lake checking cars for alcohol.

"We had a good rapport with the police around Hamilton and if you were boarding

out and they knew that you walked to work, particularly on the early shift, they'd actually come and pick you up and take you to work"

Tells story about going to see `The Sound of Music',

"...and of course the thing finished after the 10 o'clock curfew, so although you sneak in hoping that you will not get caught, they have already opened your door, noted that you are not in bed, and put your name on the list to see Matron Hollis"

Strictly run nursing home.

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