Interviewer:

Okay, so I’m going to start by asking you what your name is, what Friends group you’re from and your age, if you don’t mind telling us?

 

Irene Thompson:

My name is Irene Thompson and I belong to the Barking Hospital League of Friends, and I am 89 years and 3 months old.

 

Interviewer:

Okay. And the first question that I’d like to think about is what first inspired you to get involved with the League of Friends at Barking?

 

Irene Thompson:

Oh, I wouldn’t say as much that I was inspired at the time. I was asked to join because a friend of mine and myself formed a flower arrangement club in 1964. And when the hospital was officially opened by Princess Alexandra, we were asked to decorate the wards, the entrance, and even put some flowers in the toilet.

 

Irene Thompson:

We had a beautiful chapel with a beautiful stained-glass window in the hospital. So that meant we had to make arrangements. I was asked to join the committee, which I did. It was quite big those days. We had over, I think about 35 different members. I know it sounds a lot, but with different schools they represented and that’s how I became involved.

 

Interviewer:

That’s 55, 56 years ago?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes.

 

Interviewer:

And have you been involved throughout the whole 56 years.

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes.

 

Interviewer:

So, they didn’t let you escape?

 

 

 

Irene Thompson:

No. I thought I would try when I came down here, but John Reed soon rectified that.

 

Interviewer:

Okay. And did your involvement stay confined to flowers or did you get involved in other stuff?

 

Irene Thompson:

The hospital, I think it had five floors with the wards on each floor. As you got out the lift, there would be a big Jardiniere, a flower Jardiniere now, which meant houseplants to go in it. So, who was going to look after them? I can’t remember the name of the people who did volunteer to do that off of the committee, but they weren’t involved. They couldn’t do it.

 

Irene Thompson:

So my husband and I took it over and altogether I think we had 20 to look after, including on the top floor, the doctor’s quarters. And I had special permission to go up there and see to them. So not only that, because with Fay and Brianna, they had a big table and then another time I did the library trolley, and then in maternity, I did another trolley with other ladies at the time, with the babies’ equipment and toiletries that they had to have.

 

Irene Thompson:

So I got involved with that. And then we did have at Barking a medical library and the librarian who was there was the one that I trained under. When I left school, I went into the local library to join the staff there. So in a way I always seemed to sort of get involved somewhere or other. And my biggest thing I did was when I used to organise the hospital fete, I really enjoyed doing that.

 

Interviewer:

You were responsible for organising the fete?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes. We had a committee. It’s a small committee, but I did the paperwork. My husband used to do the layout, making sure everything looked good. We didn’t put stalls near where the Scouts were with the barbecue or we didn’t need to put people near where the ice cream man was because of the fumes coming from the gear he had to use. And then even if I wasn’t actually involved with doing something, I would be helping someone. I’m really involved, really enjoyed it. And my husband did as well.

 

Interviewer:

So it feels like it probably took up quite a lot of time in your life?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes. I was fortunate. When I did go back to work in 1972, I only did until two o’clock. So sometimes I would go straight from work to the hospital. That’s where a gentleman who was selling all the plants and what have you. Then if it was the weekend, he was going to do the jumble sale, obviously that needed sorting out and setting up. So I’d go from there. Or if not, I’d wait to see whoever was going to go in the evening and I’d go in the evening with them.

 

Interviewer:

And I’ve heard that what we now call volunteering, it was more like a way of life for people?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes.

 

Interviewer:

It was where you found your friends. It was what you did for your community. If you weren’t actually doing something at the hospital, you’d be preparing for it at home. It was almost like a hobby or a social activity alongside everything else that you did?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. There is social activity there because you did make friends and you, you know, I cooked. A couple of friends that then joined the actual flower club and then in the end, they sort of knitted together.

 

Irene Thompson:

I remember my husband was once asked by someone how much he got paid for what he did there. He replied that he was a volunteer. Volunteers don’t get paid. And that was, that really upset my husband. He said, that’s something he wished to do, so he did it.

Interviewer:

And it was your contribution to the community. Something that you enjoy doing. Out of interest, because you’ve got children. Did your children get involved over there?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes. My oldest one Martin, he got onto Radio Barking. My son Derek, both him and Martin then used to help out perhaps with the fete. Christmas time, Christmas day, we as members of the committee would go to the hospital Christmas morning, but the patients would have a card and a present.

 

Irene Thompson:

And we would go around and speak to everyone. Well, we never had any transport. So that meant walking, because cause there was no public transport. Many of the times when I look back, we’d gone when it just poured and poured with rain. So we knew we’d have to take perhaps some other clothing with us. If in case of anything, we’d got really wet in the puddles or what have you. Occasionally, not very often though, we might get a lift back if an ambulance, an empty ambulance was going back to Dagenham Road, which was about a 15-minute from us.

 

Irene Thompson:

But that was where their depot was. So we knew it would be alright. We might get a lift back home. And the boys knew that Christmas dinner would be a bit late, but then sometimes they used to come around with us as they got older, and we were lucky as well.

 

Irene Thompson:

So it’s Christmas, but up to a point, if we knew if we were germ free and we didn’t have a cold, we’d be allowed into the baby unit where their little premature babies were. One particular year we really wanted to get in there because we paid a lot of money, and I do mean a lot of money, when the first incubators came out. Where you could get your hands in and then you could do so many things that were easy for the nursing staff and doctors to use and obviously it was in the best interest of the baby.

 

Irene Thompson:

And that we’d raised a lot of money to buy one. And I think if I remember right, Eric would check me on that. We was very lucky. A family, the mother, donated a house that was to be sold and the money was to go to the hospital. And I remember, I think most of that money was donated into the this particular unit. And we were lucky, we did go in and see that. And another thing that always stuck in my mind, we bought Dr. Grant a really, really up to date microscope.

 

Irene Thompson:

Connie and I have been… I’ve never been to…I’m sure not… we were going to sort something out and we did meet Dr. Grant. And we asked him if he’d got his microscope yet? He said he’d got it. We asked to see it. And he let us look through it and he explained it. And that was a lovely thing, you know? And he was so chuffed with it. I can’t remember how many years ago, but it wasn’t, I suppose it as about 9 or 10 years. We’d gone to an event and I suddenly looked up and there was Dr. Grant. Obviously he didn’t recognize me. I didn’t expect him to, but when I introduced myself to him and reminded me him about the microscope he said he’s still got that! And that’s worth a lot of money now. So that was uplifting, to find that that all those years in between it was still being used. It’s really something, it really was.

Interviewer:

And now you live quite a long way from Barking, but you’ll still go back to Barking for the committee meetings?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes.

 

Interviewer:

Do you think the Friends do different things today to what they used to do years ago? Or is it much the same in your view?

 

Irene Thompson:

No, I would say it’s much the same. Because ultimately, we’re living up to the motto which is to help the patients and staff, and to buy medical equipment.

 

Irene Thompson:

We’d also help with the bag with emergency kit in there. If a patient had gone in overnight or whenever unexpected, the bag had toiletry stuff, little things to help, a writing pad and a pen. And then we had another one with the toiletry stuff and the gowns for if anybody unfortunately had been raped and the police would bring them there to do what they had to. Sometimes we’d have combs and perhaps some makeup just to help them. Well, you can’t do that now. I mean, really? It’s this all this hygiene business.

 

Irene Thompson:

You don’t go around to the ward anymore. You don’t go and change the flowers because they don’t have flowers. I did hear that they’d stopped doing the library trolley. I did try to find out at Southend because I did experience it once when I went in there. But since then I haven’t seen it. No one seems to know. There isn’t so much personal attention and touch there, but then on the other hand, we were never allowed to go and feed them, which they do now.

 

Interviewer:

And you still run the cafe don’t you at Barking? Yes. And is the cafe different?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes, because we’ve got more modern stuff in it as such and we’re able to do more things,

 

Interviewer:

So, it’s a bit more up market?

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes, exactly. That’s the right word.

 

Interviewer:

And the thing that I’ve always found about Friends’ cafes is that the volunteers have got time to talk to the patients and the relatives that are in, which is a really important bit.

 

Irene Thompson:

Yes.

 

Interviewer:

Excellent. So do you think there’s still a need for Friends groups in hospitals today?

 

Irene Thompson:

Oh, yes. Yes. Even if it’s only it’s for patients to have someone to talk to them. Back when there was the walk-in centre at Barking…I remember Moorfields had a big clinic on a Monday when we was on duty and people would be there on their own and they’d had the drops in their eyes and they couldn’t see, you know. I’d say to them, I’ll take you out for a few minutes. And I take that person out and put her, perhaps if I could find the seat, make sure she was sitting down alright and keep an eye on her and that sort of thing. I’d chat to them, even if they were waiting for a taxi to take them home or something. I’ll talk to anyone if I can. But I felt if they didn’t want to talk to me, I say, well, look, you know, fair enough, but I’ll just keep an eye on them.

 

Interviewer:

And do you think there’s anything we could do as Friends groups to encourage more young people to get involved?

 

Irene Thompson:

Oh, I wish we could. You know, unfortunately, so many people where both parties, as in husband and wife, partners, whatever they are, have to go to work these days. They don’t seem to have the time. A lot of them don’t realise we’re still going. I’m sure of that. I think people like myself and other people that have volunteered, they know somebody connected.

 

Irene Thompson:

I don’t think young people realise that we’re still going. They’ve not had the misfortune to go in the hospital, but then you’re not in hospital long now. So you’re not exposed to it. You’ll miss something like let’s say a trolley doing a round on the wards with books once a week, you might miss that world. And they wouldn’t be aware that it was available.

 

Interviewer:

But it certainly feels like over the years, you’ve done a huge amount for the community, but you’ve also enjoyed it on the way?

 

Irene Thompson:

Oh gosh. Yes. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.

 

Interviewer:

Absolutely. Now, is there anything that you thought that I might ask you about you haven’t had a chance to tell me, or are you happy that you’ve told us some stuff about that you’re happy with?

 

Irene Thompson:

No, I don’t think there is. I mean, I’ve seen have done a lot of talking! I can be a bit vain talking about what I’ve done!

 

Interviewer:

Yes, well, absolutely. But you should be vain because you’ve done some fantastic things over the years and very rightly recognised for it.

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