Clara Gould. OBE first matron Sully

I wonder how many people know that Clara Gould , the first matron to be appointed to Sully hospital in 1936 was a founder member of the Royal College of Nursing and was awarded an OBE for her services to the nursing profession?

Her great niece Jill White , a recently retired nurse , says her great aunt was totally devoted to nursing to the exclusion of all else in her life though there was a man called "Teddy" at Sully who wanted to marry her but she refused because she considered herself socially inferior to him.

Jill says they never knew the identify of this mysterious "Teddy" though they suspect he was one of the doctors.

Sully and cricket

I have just received a request from Nic Lanagan, secretary of Barry Wanderers Cricket Club .

They have played at Sully Hospital (now Hayes Point) for many years and next

year they celebrate their 40th anniversary and they hope to publish a history of the club to commemorate this in July 2010.

Now they are looking for any information about the early days of the club.
Can anyone help?

So far all I know is that their playing fields are on the site of the hospital farm where animals were kept for research purposes.

Return to Sully

Imagine returning to Sully after nearly fifty years


to find that it has been turned into luxury apartments...

and I get taken to view the show flat on the top floor....


imagine walking into this luxury apartment and discovering....




it's my old ward!...phew!

First matron of Sully- Clara Gould

Jill White, the great niece of Clara Gould, first matron of Sully until her retirement in 1950, has just contacted me.

She says her great aunt devoted her life to her work.

"I visited Sully two years ago only to find that it was being converted into accommodation we also climbed through the barbed wire fence to get a good view!" added Jill.

Mystery building - morgue

Ann standing outside morgue

Whoops! sorry...mystery building is former morgue and it is about to be converted into a bistro /cafe.

I have just returned form Wales and had a tour of Sully - courtesy of the developers- and I found the conversion of Sully hospital into Hayes Point apartments very impressive.

Mystery building?

I have had a query from a resident in Hayes Point, as the former Sully hospital is known as, to ask if I had any information on why one building remains in its original state.

Initial research suggests this is a
medical incinerator
and has been the subject of
some controversy

Can anyone throw more light on this matter?

Sully and Highland Moors- Tony Hooper

Sully


Highland Moors

Tony Hooper says:
"I was an inmate (!) at Highland Moors-1947-48- remember it with no affection at all.
At age 7 to be called by a number (No 20 in my case) was not a pleasant childhood memory- the winter of 1947 up there was very harsh.

The food -I realise it was just after the war- was grim even by standards of the time- bread and marge -or bread and jam for tea (never bread+marge+jam!) - The odd times my parents on their monthly visit managed to find a few fresh eggs from a farmer on the way as a treat resulted in my getting scrambled eggs at the next meal - made from powdered egg.'They got broken when we took them to the kitchen' was the standard excuse. In the time I was there I lost nearly a stone in weight.

A few years later I was an inpatient at Sully several times- this would have been 1952-1954. A completely different experience- good food, caring staff and a wonderful situation- it would have made a great resort hotel!


Did it affect me? That's a hard one. I guess all experiences feed in to one's personality but I can't say that it traumatised me- though the level of harshness and impersonal relationships with staff made me very keen to be at home when possible. So never was one for after school activities etc.
I now live in Bath.

Internet
I found the site when I was looking up mid Wales towns for a day trip that I am planning shortly and when I saw Llandrindod Wells was impelled to see if there was any information on Highland Moors."