Long service nurse to be honoured by community
Friends, relations and former colleagues will gather in Strathy hall this weekend (Saturday, February 6) for a ceilidh-dance and public presentation to Dorothy Mackay, Kirtomy, to mark her retirement at the end of November from a life of devoted public service.
Dorothy’s working life, full and part-time, spans a remarkable fifty-five years, all but nine months as a nurse. Well known throughout the North West as a district nurse and midwife she served in Kinlochbervie, Tongue and Melness, and Melvich till her first “retirement” in 1985 — which was postponed until a replacement was found. She continued, on call and doing relief work, and latterly as a reserve “on the bank”, till November 1998 “when my final five years of midwifery refresher training ran out”.
She describes the demanding work and everyday hardships of the post-war period but says she has no regrets. In pre-Morris Minor days, district nurses drove Austin 8s which had no heaters and had to have their radiators drained on frosty nights, an added chore on overnight stays away for births at the more remote places.
This story is from the No 315, January 2018 edition of Am Bratach.
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This story is from the No 315, January 2018 edition of Am Bratach.
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From Our Archives
Long service nurse to be honoured by community
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IF YOU are a regular reader of my postie’s posts you will probably sigh when you realise that I am talking about roads again this month. But I do have an excuse and that is because the Highland Council aren’t really that good at managing them at times.
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WHEN YOU consider that we really don’t have that many roads in the Highlands, the ones we do have seem to get a story from most people you talk to.
