Flu in 1957

Share your memories and stories from the Hertford Christ's Hospital School, which closed in 1985, when the two schools integrated to the Horsham site....

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olefours
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Real Name: Sally Frowde

Flu in 1957

Post by olefours »

Does anyone remember being wrapped in scratchy blankets in bed in the infirmary and being given a powder which was supposed to lower our temperature? It was called a stew. I can't find any reference online to what we might have been given, and would be grateful for any information. It obviously didn't do us much harm if we're still aliiiiii
sejintenej
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Re: Flu in 1957

Post by sejintenej »

That, Sally, I think must have been at Hertford where, we are told, they had their own way of doing things.

As far as I recall, at Horsham we were dumped in any convenient bed and simply left to ferment slowly. I suspect thatwe did have the luxury of sheets but as for the rest it seemed to be a reenactment of WWI military hospitals with lines of patients propped at the regulation angle
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
storyteller
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Re: Flu in 1957

Post by storyteller »

Yes I recall the stews and that flu epidemic. My guess is the powder was some form of aspirin which would have worked.
seajayuu
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Re: Flu in 1957

Post by seajayuu »

Yes, I remember "stews". Horrid. But that must have been in the '59 epidemic - I didn't start at CH until Sept '58. I remember that at least 2 Wards were used as convalescence areas. Were we sent home early? Do I remember correctly that we all had to have a clear throat swab before being allowed back the next term? In which case it must have been Strep or 'Flu and Strep.
Katharine
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Re: Flu in 1957

Post by Katharine »

That must have been Spring 1959, Chrissy, I don't remember any such epidemic. I started in September 59.

I don't remember much about the infirmary as I was so healthy, I was in the new annexe once in about Upper IV, my first stay in the infirmary main building was when I was in the VI form. Sister told me to go to a particular ward, and I had no idea where it was! Sister took great delight in telling someone much younger than me to show me where it was.
Katharine Dobson (Hills) 6.14, 1959 - 1965
seajayuu
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Re: Flu in 1957

Post by seajayuu »

"Up Tinf" maybe that should go on the Housey slang strand, but - it would probably be lost on them.
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J.R.
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Re: Flu in 1957

Post by J.R. »

seajayuu wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:44 pm "Up Tinf" maybe that should go on the Housey slang strand, but - it would probably be lost on them.
I have heard this one before, but memory fading. Might have been on this site, or at Horsham mid-sixties.
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
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