On August 1st 50 years ago.........

Jon and I started as Pre-registration House Officers in Paediatrics at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. In those days you could do Paediatrics as a house officer (probably still a Houseman, when I think about it!) We were the most junior doctors on Wards 8 and 16 working a 1 in 2 rota.

I think there is a special bond between people who work together like that at the beginning of their careers. Jon went on to become a Paediatric Endocrinologist in Norway, where he still lives.

I went on to be a GP and later a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. We had some parallel stories to tell about the management of our services!

Jon is now enjoying art in his retirement and has had two exhibitions.

The day started with 15 of us attending a tour around the University. The two student ambassadors did well, although we were all so ecstatic to see each other that we could not stop talking!

I had lunch with 5 others in the café of the Playhouse. Some things don't change. The service was as dire as it has ever been!

In the afternoon, many more gathered for a visit to the New Medical School. We were greeted by Professor Paul Paes, Dean of Medicine. He brought us up to date with medical education. Then we descended into the bowels of the building to see the clinical skills area.

Before we went into this area, there was a rigmarole about entering. No mobiles, no cameras or they would be confiscated, etc.

The best was when the administrator said that anyone who preferred not to go where they might see embalmed bodies could miss that part out. This was greeted with loud guffaws (to her surprise I think). On our very first day we went to the dissecting room where we were allocated in groups of 6 to a corpse. (We called ours Bill.)

In the event, there were no bodies to be seen; they were discreetly wrapped in plastic sheeting and there was no smell.  The students do not do any dissection themselves. How things have changed!

I took a bus back to Julie's in Fenham where I had left my car. She plied me with wine, then I took a taxi to The Biscuit Factory for the evening. There were 90 of us, 56 of whom were graduates. Some had travelled far - from Australia, Canada, California, Germany and Norway.

Thankfully we had labels. Earlier in the day it had been challenging to recognise everyone.

The venue was excellent as was the food. The conversation flowed very freely. All too soon, it was time to part.

Will there be a 60 year reunion? Only time will tell. 17 of our original 100 are no longer with us.

This has been a long spiel, but to finish I am going to quote from Jon's biography for the yearbook:
Do you remember the mantra from our geriatric block at Ryhope hospital? the consultant said “if you do not find 3 or more things wrong with anyone over 65 you have not done a good enough job”. 


We are all over 65 and I suspect we may all fall into this category. There was surprisingly little talk of illness tonight. Lots of happy memories were shared instead.