Gransnet forums

Ask a gran

70 years?

(23 Posts)
Rocknroll5me Fri 29-Jun-18 10:19:53

Why this sudden celebration of 70 years as if it was a normal milestone to celebrate?
It happens to be 70 years since the post war period when so much change took place and now we are bang in the middle of massive change with Brexit so is it more to do with reinforcing a national identity linked with winning?

Eglantine21 Fri 29-Jun-18 10:22:26

Is there? Sorry I’ve missed it all. Can you give me some examples?

henetha Fri 29-Jun-18 10:25:41

Do you mean the NHS? I've enjoyed some of the television programmes celebrating this. It makes me realise how marvellous it is and how much we take it for granted.

Rocknroll5me Fri 29-Jun-18 10:38:54

Yes I know the NHS is wonderful etc I am just wondering how and why 70 years became the anniversary to celebrate? It never was before...

Synonymous Fri 29-Jun-18 10:45:49

What is this about? confused

Whatever is being celebrated 70 years is quite something and I have no doubt that celebrations help people to focus on the positive side of things and life in general. Negativity contributes to all that is bad and drags people down. sad

Greenfinch Fri 29-Jun-18 10:58:20

70 years means that there will be some people alive who can remember life before the NHS and know what a brilliant institution it is . 100 years and no-one will be able to remember.

Franbern Fri 29-Jun-18 11:03:34

Well, think the 70th anniversary of the NHS is being done, and by the time we reach 2023 (75th anniversary), the way things are going at present it will not longer really exist - all having being privatised out, with just a small 'charity' section for the vulnerable!!!!!

wildswan16 Fri 29-Jun-18 11:20:50

I was working in the NHS ten years ago and there was a 60th anniversary. A lot of interesting things, but also stupid ones like having to change the logo on numerous things to "celebrate" it.

But I do find it interesting to look back and see how much has changed - some for the better but also some for the worse.

We also need to remember those "pioneers" who had the vision to set it up and make it work - there may be a lot wrong with it but we would certainly miss it if it wasn't there.

Panache Fri 29-Jun-18 11:45:01

I think personally the fact that 70 is now more the old 50 could well be the reasons why there are many celebrations for this one pair of numbers.............

Of course the N.H.S is a great establishment and very many of us owe our lives to its brilliance and only hope that in the next ??? 70 years? there will be massive changes .............to undo the red tape and mounds of paper work in todays NHS.......losing all the pen pushers .....thus allowing greater incentives in attracting the highest calibre of our new people into its service as Doctors,Nurses and such needful Staff.
Sadly I will not be around to celebrate that, so I will do so this time around!!

SueDonim Fri 29-Jun-18 11:49:31

70 has always been a milestone - the biblical three score years and ten.

Grandma70s Fri 29-Jun-18 12:04:23

I was very ill with mastoiditis in 1949, just after the NHS had been introduced. I had an emergency operation and a long stay in hospital. All my life my parents would recall how grateful they had been for the NHS. I didn’t really understand, because it was something I just took for granted. I understand now just how important a principle free (at the point of use) healthcare is. We need to pay a little more tax so it can continue.

sodapop Fri 29-Jun-18 12:10:03

I agree Suedonim We normally don't make a big thing out of birthdays but we did have a celebration for our 70th.

Willow500 Fri 29-Jun-18 12:24:50

Grandma70's my grandmother died of a mastoid when she was 61 - it would have been about 1941/42 (my mum was 21) . No NHS then and some stupid doctor told her to put mustard in her ear!! My parents could remember the days before the NHS - I interviewed them for a project I was doing on it when I was at college. I so wish I could find that tape now. 70 years is a great thing to celebrate.

varian Fri 29-Jun-18 14:23:04

70 is the biblical "three score years and ten" - our allotted span.

I have found that ever since I turned seventy I've felt as if I'm on extra time and when I hear of someone under seventy having died, I almost feel guilty.

Those of us who are over seventy have to be grateful for our extra time and try to make the most of it.

Grandma70s Fri 29-Jun-18 14:51:03

Willow500, I am so sorry about your grandmother. It is, or was, a very dangerous illness. I was lucky. I do vaguely remember how ill I was, and I remember the hospital stay very well. I was 9 at the time. I was very spoilt for some time after! Even our family doctor gave me a present. I don’t think that would happen nowadays.

Cherrytree59 Fri 29-Jun-18 15:34:55

I am beyond grateful to our NHS.

I like everyone else have had my moans and I worry for the future of the NHS.

Seventy years of caring,) saving lives and medical innovation is worth celebrating.

Several members of my family including my grandson are having long term treatment under our NHS.
Where we be now?? Scary thoughtshock

blossom14 Fri 29-Jun-18 20:38:57

Grandma70s I can remember being taken in an Ambulance to hospital with mastoiditis when I was seven in 1948. My enduring memory is that parents were not allowed to visit at all and my Mum told me she was only allowed to peep into the ward through a window in the door. Bit different now.

maytime2 Sat 30-Jun-18 15:15:40

An ENT Consultant told me a couple of years ago that mastoiditis is on the increase because of guide-lines given to G.P's about prescribing antibiotics to children who have ear infections.
Grandma 70s - I had a tonsilectomy at the age of 6 and did not see my parents whilst I was in hospital. It was such a traumatic experience that I remember it all vividly to this day - I am now in my seventies.

OldMeg Sat 30-Jun-18 15:40:36

Why shouldn’t 70 years be celebrated? ???

varian Sat 30-Jun-18 18:41:48

I had a tonsilectomy when I was seven. I think it was a routine operation for any child who had more than one sore throat. I do remember being fed jelly and ice-cream a day or two later - a very rare treat in those post war days.

lemongrove Sat 30-Jun-18 22:51:38

Everything is celebrated now, 40 years since this and 60 years since that etc.
I think it’s a plot to keep the populace happy( bread and circuses.) grin

Jalima1108 Sat 30-Jun-18 23:15:39

Three score years and ten.

A life time according to the Bible.

grannygranby Mon 02-Jul-18 10:56:43

It seems more like a cry for help than a celebration...and does it not undermine our faith in it to see how badly it is doing? - some really frightening programmes of the old and sick being left in ambulances outside hospitals that have no room. And we all know that Brexit will make it worse for staffing. It is very scary indeed.
I have just learnt that because of austerity life expectancy has gone down for the first time that records began. There should be far more protest. NHS70 was funded by the heritage lottery fund and so far it has got a promise of 20 billion from the government (over many years) and still no increase in social care which is what is reckoned to have reduced life expectancy.
It is political. It’s not a time to get sentimental and say how good we are it is time for anger and protest. And did you know that the bonus pool in the finance sector in the UK last year was £15 billion? The largest since 2007? And it was the banking crisis that caused austerity and the cut backs on our social services...never ever the welfare spending by the previous Labour government, yet that myth continues to be spun and believed?
In a way Brexit was a ‘tug from below’ revolution but not not a bright one just a clumsy punishment/revenge on feelings of being ignored and not listened to. And the wrong idea that it was caused by poor immigrants coming to this country. What a mess we are in, I wish people would stop being so complacent and get angry about it. The more the better.