WHAT memories the Those were the days… feature (“Staying calm in the face of terror”, The Herald, September 19) brought back. I remember my mother showing me how to put on my Mickey-mouse gas mask. It lived in a cupboard in the hall with their grown-up masks. After the war my younger sister and I would play with it until it disappeared.

The thing that brought back the strongest memory is the ringlets (sausage curls) non the wee lassie’s head. It was quite a procedure to get the hair into place for a night of sleeping with the “rags” in. A long strip of cloth, rather like a strip of bandage, would be held against the head and allowed to dangle down. My hand would hold the top end while my mother wound the section of dampened hair around the cloth and then wound the dangling strip back up the “sausage” to meet the strip at the top. The two ends were tied together and the procedure repeated until the head was covered in sausages. Then you would have to try to sleep with all that stuff confining your hair.

It was rather like torture but pride must abide. If you wanted those ringlets you had to thole the rag’. The easiest bit was getting the rags away in the morning. Just undo the knot at the top, unwind the rag and pull it down through the sausage. If you wanted a wavy effect you ran your fingers through the ringlets and they loosened and flowed down your head in a shiny cascade.

Now, whatever happened to those rags?

Thelma Edwards,

Old Comrades Hall,

Hume,

Kelso.

THANK you for the photograph of “The Royal" in 1959 the year my crowd qualified (“Student nurses learn medical procedure not to be sniffed at”, The Herald, September 21). Just to make it clear the nurse on the right is a staff nurse proudly wearing her staff cap and hospital badge having passed all her house and state exams to be a registered general nurse. The other four are students at various stages of training, watching and learning a technique being demonstrated by the ward sister.

Obtaining registration and a staff cap was a considerable achievement after a very intensive three years of working on the various wards interspersed with study blocks as we progressed through our broad-based training programme.

Our principal tutor was Miss McInroy, a truly remarkable woman. She was supported by other equally dedicated nursing tutors. The ward sisters developed the practical skills which were required to produce a qualified nurse. Senior medical staff from different disciplines gave us lectures. We were all very proud of our training school and our hospital and many of us formed lasting friendships which persist to this day.

Margaret C Park,

25 Pantonville Road, West Kilbride.