Winifred Maud Wrigley

6th September 1903 - 31st January 1985

By Heather Grainger (née Fordham)

Aerial Photograph of Cell Barnes Hospital
Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

Winnie was born in London. She came to Cell Barnes as a nurse when it opened in 1933. During the war she worked in Dorset, still nursing, and then returned to Cell Barnes from 1946-1963. Winnie was a registered nurse. When she was in Dorset, she used to ride a motorbike and was also friends with Portland Bill’s lighthouse keeper, and swam around the tip of Portland with him.

She used to have to lock the nurses’ home up at night – nurses used to have to get a late pass to stay out late! One night, some of the lads put her bike, which she used to do her rounds on, up a tree. She told me she used to run her keys along the big radiators on her rounds and never found any night nurses asleep.

Winnie was a clever woman. She could do gardening, paintings, decorating, knitting and sewing. She loved crosswords and quizzes – University Challenge being a favourite, where some of her wild guesses were correct! I learnt a lot of things from her. She was always keen to learn new things – winemaking, in her retirement, for one. Her active mind and body kept her going, and as a family we all miss her very much.

This page was added on 25/08/2010.

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