Nurse Glenys Davies 1943-1973

Glenys in playful mood...



Helping out with the children at the Christmas pantomine.


"Preparing" Ann for an x-ray - 1951


Ann and Glenys back at Craig-y-nos in 2007



Nurse Davies worked at Craig-y-nos from March 1943 until the hospital closed in December1973.

She started there initially as part of the war effort to get women into the workforce.
Much to the chagrin of her parents she chose to nurse TB patients instead of working on the family farm.

She enjoyed the contact with the children so much that even after the war was finished she carried on nursing there.

Her name is the one that most frequently crops up amongst ex-patients, and they all speak of her with a great deal of affection.

Today Glenys, aged 82, is still living in the Swansea valley and , while she is not as active as she was up until five years ago she still maintains her love of life, her sense of humour and her independence.

Many ex- staff and patients refer to her as “the Rock”, the unchanging figure in the turbulent history of Craig-y-nos.

This is a brief extract from an interview with her.


Mary Williams- first cure

“I remember Mary Williams from Talgarth coming in. It must have been about 1950 or 1951.

She was very ill and she was put in the sisters office so that we could nurse her. She was dying and we didn't expect her to last very long.
Well, within a couple of weeks of receiving streptomycin she had recovered.

It was like a miracle.”


Nursing regime
All patients had to have their lights out by 9.30 pm and nurses by 10 pm.

They were very strict in the nurses home.
You were not allowed to go out in your uniform, not even just across the road to the shop which was just the front room of a nearby cottage.

“if you went there to the shop you had to go in mufti and if you did go in uniform and were caught you would be very sorry for it. You would get a row from matron . “


Ghosts?
“I don't believe a word of it. I was here over 30 years and never saw a thing.”

Memories and x-rays
“I have very happy memories of my time working at Craig-y-nos.

Nurses at other hospitals were not X-rayed as frequently as we were and we had quite a number of nurses as patients from Swansea hospital, and some died.”