Dr Neslyn Watson-Drueé “had a passion for nursing” and still does. She remembers that as a school prefect, when the midwife and health visitors came to the school, she wanted to learn what they did. She showed early initiative, thinking back to “a young child who had a sore on her leg and nobody wanted to touch it ... I don’t think she was being properly looked after at home. I decided to get Dettol at school and clean it and that wound had maggots in it and I remember the look on her face. It brings tears to my eyes as I think about that child. I thought ‘Yes, if I could deal with that at that age’. ”

Others too had childhood ambitions to nurse, often influenced by older relatives. Sherlene Rudder “… always, always wanted to be a nurse. I had a great admiration for my great-grandmother, who was the district midwife. I don’t think she had any formal qualifications but I just remember her going around looking after all these people and I thought this is something I really want to do. I think because she was held in such great esteem I thought ‘oh yes I could do with some of that’. Always hearing about nursing, the NHS, that’s what I wanted to do, that’s really the best place to be trained.”

Joyce Bleasdille-Lumsden accepting an award