Our meeting on Wednesday 07 June 2023 was a face to face meeting at the Kenton Beefeater with one of our members as speaker. Barbara Rees had had a life-long career in nursing and told her story.
She had started in a local government payroll department – partly to please her father – but had always wanted to be a nurse, In 1975, she was offered a place to work and study at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, and that saw the start of her career in nursing.
She moved to Norwich, and shortly after the move discovered that her real passion was for becoming a nurse in the operating theatre where she could work as a member of the team. All the team members were focused and dedicated to the task. After working for many years and moving up the ladder to become a sister, she decided that she should move to London. There she took up roles in genital-urinary surgery, and eventually moved into neurological surgery.
Eventually, she left the NHS and moved into care of the elderly, specialising in arthritis care for a time. She decided to update her skills and knowledge, and studied for a BA Hons in Health Management at the University of Westminster, and that led to a post in Westminster Healthcare. The most important life lessons her career had provided her with was the importance of maintaining a sense of humour, and being able to laugh at yourself, and her talk was peppered throughout with humorous anecdotes.
This was an excellent talk and much enjoyed by the members.
