In April 1966, adventurous Agnes and Irene, both 18, met on a plane taking them to do a general nursing course in a new hospital in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK. Although they attended the same secondary school, the Maria Assunta secondary technical school in Ħamrun (seconds intake), they had never met.
In July 1966, they were joined by Theresa and Mary, two 18-year-old pupils from the first intake of the same Ħamrun school.
Theresa and Mary were settled in the brand new nurses’ home in the new Huddersfield Royal Infirmary grounds while Agnes and Irene were at the old hospital staff accommodation before the services and staff migrated to the new HRI on September 25, 1966, and all four ended up at the same nurses’ home. They became colleagues and better friends.
It was a daunting but enjoyable experience and all four qualified as general nurses (SRNs). Theresa and Mary went on to do psychiatric training after qualifying and Agnes and Irene worked as newly-qualified staff nurses.
All got married and had families away from Malta and moved on where their family’s needs took them but remained friends and kept in touch. Agnes now lives in Sydney, Australia with her family and still works as a nurse and Theresa lives in Melbourne with her family and has retired from nursing and running family businesses. Irene helps to run her family business in Doncaster, UK and Mary returned to Malta 12 years ago after taking early retirement from mental health management posts. Each maintained their ties with Malta and with the families they left behind in 1966.
This year, they coordinated a return to Malta together in late June to be together under the same bit of sky once more, reminisce and toast each other’s 70th birthday.
The Times of Malta featured some interviews it had with the four student nurses in England on November 4, 1966. It made the front page then and was reproduced on November 4, 2016 in Half a Century Ago column.
It was really exciting and emotional to be together in Malta after 51 years. This friendship will continue to flourish and it is hoped there will be more opportunities to meet again.