Pat Davey, Fairfield Hospital telephone switchboard operator

The picture above is courtesy of Pat who also provided this memoire:

"I worked at Fairfield Hospital for three years from 1965 to 1968. I left when I was 20 to start a family. When I first started at such a young age the lodge was around the other side of the building. During my time there it moved to the front of the building, just left of the main entrance (as you're looking at the front of the building). I worked on the hospital telephone switchboard.

"At that time there were 1000 patients plus many hundreds of staff and it was the only line into the hospital. At times it was very busy! I loved my time working at Fairfield - I have to say I was very happy there. I was no stranger to the place, in fact a lot of it was familiar to me as my dad was Stan Davey. He was a senior nursing officer and had worked at Fairfield for over 40 years, he started back in the days when it was known as Three Counties Hospital. One thing I enjoyed as a child was walking the wards with dad at Christmas time. There was such a happy atmosphere. I remember one ward having a minor bird on it. I also remember dad having a whistle which he blew during the hospitals fire drill.

"While working on the switch board many patients and staff would pass by the lodge. They would stop and chat, and we would have a bit of a giggle and a gossip. It was also the place where staff would hand in or collect their keys from the porter. It was a busy reception area for anyone coming or going from the hospital. Day or night there was always some one about. Busy, but I enjoyed my time there".