I was born in Albion in Berbice, Guyana. I came to London in 1966 with my little sister and two years later started my career as a trainee nurse at Whittington Hospital in North London.  I lived in the nurses accommodation which overlooked the wards in Highgate, North London.

On my first day on the ward, I remember meeting nurses from all over the Caribbean including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica and there were Irish nurses as well. We were all young girls living away from our families in this exciting city and were eager  to make the most of life.  We were like a family. We ate our meals together, went on duty and came home together. We shared our stories of the day and on our days off we went sightseeing in London.

It took some time to get used to living away from home. In Guyana and even when I came to London, I always shared a bedroom with my sisters. Suddenly I found myself sleeping on my own, it was difficult but I wasn’t the only one who felt  lonely and before I knew it my friends and I would share rooms. Of course we talked and giggled until we slept.