THE SHOWS: MEMORIES OF THE REVIEWS @JoyGerken @RRBC_Org @4WillsPub @4WP11

I never considered myself a director of stage and medics production. This was in the 60’s and 70’s and known as REVIEWS. But I found myself being roped into this very job.

We had a lovely hall with a fully equipped stage attached to the hospital.

We were a group of nursing friends who were young and energetic, so, a few of us dreamt up skits and songs to be sung with dance routines and the like.

We were lucky to be able to rope in many consultants and doctors to join in the fun and games.

The host was a porter from the hospital, and a comic, to boot. He was excellent with his introductions and many jokes. One show (of which there were six in total), was when he played the part of the now disgraced, Gary Glitter. He made the high-heeled shoes that the singer stomped the stage in, and with the help of his wife, he produced the garish costumes he wore.

This act went down a storm.

My father was roped in by me, and we spent hours laughing when he and 4 junior doctors dressed up as fairies and were taught to dance. We managed to get hold of a choreographer named Barbara, and she and I became firm friends. She worked amazing wonders with these left-footed men.

My dad was an English teacher and wrote many of the sketches that were well-received by the audiences.

An Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Consultant, a local G.P., and two other doctors, comprised the panel of a T.V. show called TRUE OR FALSE. The host needed to establish which explanation for the held banner was the correct one.

It was to the audience’s delight when the hospital’s famed ENT Consultant displayed the word BRONTISAURUS, pronouncing it BRONTI SORE ARSE.

My lifelong friend and nursing colleague, who is soon to move in with us for the short term, as she is in the throes of moving house, responded to the challenge of being a stripper. The band played as she peeled off piece by piece of her many items of clothing, and bravely stripped down to a Basque-type black and red garment.

We had a takeoff of Iddi Armin. The marvellous chap acting out this part, came onto the stage and shouted at the head of nursing, “Iddi Armin, I’m in!  Move over, white trash!”  This would be considered politically incorrect for today’s audiences, but back then, it went down a storm.