THE GOLDONIAN

GOLDINGS PERSONALITIES

Nurse Mary Ann Underwood

Miss. Underwood started at Goldings in 1953 with the position of Nurse at the schools purpose made sick bay and stayed some six years dealing with all the ailments the boys could come up with.

Nurse Underwood took leave from us after a stay of some eight years. Nurse, was Miss Underwood's professional title and by which she was best known, Nurse Underwood was another one of those people who got on with her job in a quiet inconspicuous manor and, true to her profession, was capable of dealing with any emergency. Two of her off-duty pastimes were billiards and snooker, and she was deemed proficient enough to be allowed to play on the coveted green baize in the staff room.

Please help us get the facts right

I have two dates in which Nurse Underwood arrived. If we look at the staff listings for the summer of 1953 you will find Mary Underwood being listed for the first time. Then in a later Goldonian It was reported that Miss Underwood arrived in 1948 and left a few days after Mr. Fisher left to go on a Home Office course in 1959. Question did Miss Underwood become Mrs. Fisher and become the first nurse to marry a Master?

As written in The Goldonian: "In the spring of 1967 Nurse Bateman decided to take full responsibility of Mr. L. G. Mondin by becoming Mrs. Mondin as reported in the spring edition of The Goldonian Staff news section. This was the second time our sick bay nurse had been snapped up by one of the masters, I think it was Nurse Underwood who married one of the masters first."

The question is who did Mr. Offord marry, some say it was Miss Underwood but both Sister Offord SRN and Nurse M. Underwood are listed as being the sick bay staff in the Spring of 1959 then in the summer Sister Offord is replaced by Sister M Ward. Confused I am and Mrs. Offord is listed in the summer of 1952 being in charge of sickbay???.