My first uniform was a simple cotton starched dress in a Lavender colour, and no cap. I was 17 years old, and working at our local hospital as a cadet Nurse, but spent my first year cleaning down whatever the clinic sister asked me to, I hated that first year and could not wait until I entered Nursing school, and got my Green pin striped uniform and my first paper cap. On qualifying, the pin stripes changed to a solid bottle green colour, but by then I had met and married my first husband, and left the hospital life to work in occupational health for Sainsburys, where I stayed until my daughter was born a couple of years later. My uniform there was more casual, a Navy blue and white Pin striped dress made out of easy care Polyester, which had a habit of giving off static electricity shocks, and I hated it!
Four years later, and after my children were born, I returned to the NHS to train in Mental health, and loved it. By this time it was a combination of the national Blue check nurse's dress, and our own clothes which we had to wear on the rehabilitation wards, for which we were paid a small clothing allowance against wear and tear. This became the trend upon qualifying, and I continued to work on the rehabilitation wards and houses.
When I retired, I missed my job, and returned to doing the odd shift on a large national nursing agency, and met some lovely Clients. Navy blue uniform again, but no aprons other than the disposable plastic ones, and no hat. How strange it felt to sometimes turn up at a clients home to do a full shift, to find that they were one of the senior hospital team who we feared so.much as Cadet nurses all those years ago. We often had a laugh with them about it, and I got to enjoy working in some lovely houses, and also met and nursed some very famous people too, sadly quite a few were in their last few weeks of life, and I felt honored o be with them at the very end.