I was born in Macclesfield. I was still a young child when we moved to a larger home in the country nearby.

When I was 18 and my sister Joyce 14 our parents allowed us to go walking in the Peak District. They trusted us because we had been well brought up. In those days there were no paths to the top of Kinder Scout. We used an OS map to find our way about. The local farmers were friendly because we were country girls and knew how to shut gates behind us.

I trained as a nurse during the First World War at Leeds General Hospital.

We were called at 6 a.m., had breakfast at 6.30 and were on duty by 7 a.m.

We worked until 9pm with two hours off duty during the day in addition to mealtimes. We were supposed to have one day off each month but because we were short staffed we had to save up our days off and take three days off at the end of each three months that gave me time to go home to Cheshire.

My brother Jeffrey was killed during WW1

When I was doing a stint at a convalescent there was no resident doctor. I developed what they thought was tonsillitis but my illness turned out to be diphtheria. It took me six months in physiotherapy n before I was fit enough to carry on my training.

After training I joined the Volunteer Nurses Service.

After WW1 for sixteen years I was a matron at the Leicester General Hospital. During my time there I started the League for Nurses.

When WW2 started our 400 beds were extended to 600. The most seriously wounded soldiers transferred to us from the Casualty Nursing Service. I thought I was doing my bit for the war at the General but nevertheless I was called up and sent to run a hospital in Scotland. The nurses there were all regular army nurses and very suspicious of a conscripted civilian

I was then sent to India with the Scottish Regular army nurses to run a mobile hospital. I was the senior woman officer in India. Now I am the oldest person to hold the Burma Star. The Burma Star North Devon Branch and the Cheltenham Branch have been very good to me.

When we first came to Faithfull House we had to live independently and cook our own meals. It was a great joy to come to Cheltenham for all the musical events we could enjoy. I was a member of the Festival Society

Nowadays we do not go out so much

My sister and I never married. When we are dead the senior branch of our family will have died out.

It is not a great achievement living so long when all your friends have died.

written up from a conversation with Margaret Penfold

Miss Norah Claye has since died

© October 2000 Norah Claye Part of the Silver Surfers' Project by trAce Online Writing Centre for the 2000 Cheltenham Festival of Literature

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