Canterbury had its' Chaucer when it came to the relating of tales. Tidworth, on the other hand, has its' Silkstone. The Silkstone in question is John Silkstone. As well as being a retired Medic and former Royal Artillery member, John is a published author with many memories of his days in Tidworth, which may coincide with your days there, as they do with mine.
Here then, are two recollections of days by gone by, at Tidworth Military Hospital, from the pen of John Silkman.
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UNOFFICIAL WORLD RECORD
Towards the end of 1962, I was asked to perform the ‘Last Offices’ on a patient that had passed away. I asked male nurse Tony Fry to give me a hand; I don’t think he’d seen a cadaver before, and was a little reluctant to assist.
After screening the bed, I showed Tony how we washed, shaved and prepare a body for burial. After washing the front, I ask Tony to give me a hand to turn the body over. Tony was still reluctant, but assisted in turning the body and as we did so, the body expelled some air from the lungs, thus making a groaning sound.
The great feat of Roger Bannister breaking the four minute mile in 1954 was nothing compared to the speed that Tony recorded that day.
On the 4th of December 1962, Tony and Jan Lord both sail on HMS Oxfordshire on its last troop sailing. Jan and some other QARANC nurses were on their way to BHM Gibraltar, while Tony was one of the medics on the round trip and returned to the Tidworth hospital after the voyage.
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AMBULANCE! WHAT AMBULANCE?
The winter of 1962/63 was very bad, with deep snow which was blown into high sided drifts by gale force winds.
One evening we received a call for an ambulance to collect a patient from Bulford Camp which was nine miles away. The ambulance was an old Military type known as a K9; it comprised of a three-ton chassis with a box top, and was about twelve feet in height and painted green with the usual Red Cross signs on the side.
There was a snowstorm blowing across the open country side between Tidworth and Bulford which caused snowdrifts of fifteen feet or more. About three miles outside of Tidworth, the civilian driver skidded off the road and into one of the drifts.
The driver and I decided that it was not safe for one of us to walk back alone for help, and so we tied ourselves together with bandages and wrapping ourselves in blankets we set off to walk back to the hospital.
The blankets helped to keep some of the cold out but soon became damp and heave with a collection of snow. My feet were cold but dry as I had my army boots on and the amount of polish that was brushed into the leather helped to keep them waterproof. The driver however, only had his shoes on and soon his feet were cold and wet. We struggled through the snow for nearly two hours just to walk the three miles back to the hospital. We have covered about three quarters of the distance and by this time the driver was in a bad state and could hardly walk. I discarded my blankets and carried him piggyback fashion with his blankets encasing us both.
Once back at the hospital, I had a hot bath and changed into dry clothes while the drive was admitted as a patient for overnight observations. When I returned to reception the REME were waiting for me to show them where the ambulance was.
We set off in their large Scammel recovery vehicle which was nice and warm within the cab. We travelled all the way to Bulford without see the ambulance. We turned around and slowly made our way back again. It was no good; the snow had buried this twelve foot green vehicle within a very short period of time. It was found three weeks later, and written off as being beyond repair.
Image by World of Oddy via FlickrAnother Pathe News clip. This time from 1927, judging by the fact that there is no sound attached, the facility may not have been available then. Although it isn't a visit to the hospital, we do take pride on this site to include the history of our military colleagues who also served in Tidworth.
