Race against time

Memories of wildlife numbers make Val fear for the future

- Val Bourne

I HAVE just started doing talks again, and one of my most popular is entitled ‘The Living Jigsaw’. In it, I talk about gardening without using chemicals, not surprisingly, but there’s one bit of my talk that gives me a lump in my throat every time I get to it.

It describes my years as a nursing cadet in Leamington Spa in 1967 and 1968. We ‘lived in’ at the nurses’ home and the rules were very strict. No men – not even my brother, who looks like a short-haired version of me – and there was a strict 10.30 pm curfew. The door was locked at 10.31 pm, and if you had to ring the bell then the wrath of Sister Foxhall was given full vent.