Black and white photograph of a large group of female nurses in uniform walking up the steps of St Paul's Cathedral. Behind them, a small crowd of onlookers stand at the roadside.

Shirley Cox (née Garrett)

Joined 1953

Stratton St Margaret Nursing Cadet Division, Wiltshire

Listen to this interview:
Black and white photograph of three female Cadets standing outside in a line facing the camera. The middle Cadet holds a flag on a pole.
Shirley Garrett (centre) holding the St John flag on Church Parade, Stratton St Margaret, Wiltshire, 1955 Image courtesy of Shirley Cox
Read transcript +

Transcript

We had grey dresses and the girls had grey capes. The girls wore a white cap. Not the cap but it was a nurse’s cap really that you actually put on. It was that sort of shape and then you had to put it on your head, pick it up all round here and make a thing, and put a pin through it. Yes, complicated to say the least. But yeah, so that’s what the girls wore. The boys, they had just shorts, you know, just ordinary trousers but it was more knee-length trousers in those days.

I always felt proud of my uniform really. And I’ve always said this right through St John, I think it’s a great organisation. I just think I put the uniform on and everybody sees that uniform so you behave in that uniform basically. So yeah, I was proud. I’ve always been proud to wear my uniform, definitely.

Excerpt courtesy of Shirley Cox