BEDPANS AND BOBBY SOCKS by Barbara Fox
Barbara Fox . Unknown Year . English
'In my dreams, I was always in some vast landscape on a long, straight road. Driving. Always driving.' Gwenda had always loved the open road, but her home town of Newcastle didn't really offer the sort of adventure she longed for. So, in 1957, with friend and fellow nurse Pat in tow, she left the dismal British winter behind, and embarked on an amazing American adventure. After a year nursing in Cleveland, Gwenda, Pat and three new friends set off on a road trip around North America, driving in a rickety 1949 Ford. What follows is the charming true story of five remarkable young women. Over the course of eighteen months, the girls go to a 4th July rodeo, visit San Francisco and Las Vegas, learn to surf in Hawaii, spot movie stars in Hollywood and celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Wherever they go, the travelling nurses cause a sensation. This is a delightfully nostalgic memoir of friendship and the romance of the open road.
Categories: Action & Adventure
About the Author
Barbara Fox was born in Newcastle and spent her childhood there and in the mining town of Ashington, Northumberland. She was inspired to write her first book, 'Bedpans & Bobby Socks', after reading the letters her mother, Gwenda Gofton, wrote home while working as a young nurse in 1950s America. A short podcast, 'Off the Page: Wandering Girls', features Gwenda and her companion Pat talking about those days and is available on iTunes. 'When the War Is Over' turns back the clock to Gwenda's childhood during the Second World War and her evacuation to a Lake District schoolhouse, while she also features in Barbara's own childhood memoir, 'Is the Vicar In, Pet?' Barbara edited 'Eve's War', the wartime diaries of officer's wife Evelyn Shillington, and co-wrote 'Midwife of Borneo' with Wendy Grey Rogerson, the extraordinary tale of Wendy's time running a clinic in the island's remote interior. After working with shepherdess Emma Gray on 'One Girl and Her Dogs' - an account of Emma's first year running a farm in an isolated part of Northumberland - she also worked on her recent book, 'My Farming Life'.
