Clinical Skills Lecturer Vicky Bond looks back on a career of 35 years, which began at Cedar House where she lived, in what is now the control room for simulated learning, as a student nurse.
In May 1986 I started my nurse training at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. It was state of the art and very impressive. I moved into halls, into a building you all know well.
The main entrance then was the big double doors off Pembroke Place. On my first day my parents dropped me off, dad couldn’t go beyond the ground floor as men were not allowed. I had a small single room on the second floor with windows looking up towards where Biochemistry is now.
The main entrance (the large staircase) had a lift in the centre with big concertina metal doors and a solid metal door, it never broke down. There were two telephones, one on the second and one on the fourth floor, on the central staircase, the only way to make or receive calls.
I later moved to a big room on the first floor which is now the control room for simulation.
I had a TV, fridge and an old wooden sofa, quite the luxury!
Me in my old room in my 80s shiny jackets, suits were trendy then, honest.
Due to the traffic my windows were always filthy. I could climb out the window and stand on the roof above the front door and wash them, then lean over the little wall to clean my other window. It was quite a drop. One day someone from the Dental Hospital called security out of concern for a young nurse (in uniform) out on the roof. My windows stayed dirty after that.
We would sunbathe on the white painted roof and on the more private fire escapes. The corridor behind us linked Clinical Skills to Brownlow Hill GP Practice, but the site was derelict back then. Strange I ended up working there!
We had capes in the winter with a red cross to fasten them, I still have mine, and lorry drivers always stopped to let us cross to go to work.
We entered by what is now the hospital canteen. Like all halls, your food would go missing from the kitchen so we kept our milk fresh by hanging it in bags out the windows. I struggle to imagine what a mess it must have looked. I loved the garden as it was one of the few green spaces for miles around. Coming from a green place (home) I struggled with the lack of nature around us.
Hanging out on the fire escape and what my old room looks like now.
It was a joyous time. I wept when I moved to the qualified accommodation (two tower blocks) in the hospital grounds. They were very happy times, surrounded by fellow young people who burnt the candle at both ends and supported each other whenever needed.
From 1986 to 1996 I worked in the Royal, mainly on Coronary Care and as an IV therapy nurse. On 1st August 1996 I started as a Clinical Skills Tutor at the University, so I have not moved far.
I often scare examiners in clinical assessments by recognising them! We have lots of GPs and Consultants who take part as volunteers and they are shocked I remember them all. There were only 150 per year back then and we taught them every week in year one, how could I forget any of them!
I have loved my career, my colleagues and most importantly the students I have met over the years.
What a privilege to play even a small part in the start of your careers.
I have just taken my retirement and will continue teaching two days a week. I don’t know how I could leave. The School has gone from strength to strength and Clinical Skills is the best it has ever been. I always dreamed of teaching all five years and that is what we are doing now. I pray you look back after 35 years with as many joyful memories and the same sense of privilege that I very much feel looking back now.
Discover more
- Dive deeper into the history of Cedar House and the Waterhouse building on the Heritage section of the School website (link).
- Get insights and advice from School Alumni as they reminisce on their days at Liverpool and the careers they went on to create on our Alumni Stories webpage (link).