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Part 3 Training and development
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When I came to Wolverhampton, the first place
they took me to was the employment office, which
was in Railway Street. In those days a lot of
work was engineering and because of this I was
a bit choosey. It was easy to get work down a
coal pit, mining, but I didn't want this. Jobs
- you could get jobs, but they were menial. You
weren't able to get jobs according to you educational
ability. You just had to take what was given to
you. So that limited my scope. I felt engineering
did provide me some chances. I could read instruments.
I was quite numerate and literate. I did not have
problems measuring and gauging items which were
manufactured - so I did not have any problems.
I was quite happy to work in factories
They gave me a note to take to Goodyear's to get
a job at Goodyear's. The chap who took me to their
employment office said, "No, don't work there.
Come and work on the buses". So I went to
work on the buses for the local transport. I worked
for three to three and a half years, initially
as a conductor, then they taught me to drive.
So I was able to drive the trolley buses. This
was in 1962, 1963 because I started the buses
in 1960.
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I managed to apply to
one of the hospitals in Wolverhampton. Of course
they said that I had not passed the test and I did
not get as good a mark as expected. For me -no-
I knew I had passed. I knew I had passed because
it was a brush off to what test I had taken. I realised
that this hospital did not have many black people
- only a few. She did - nonetheless- offer me training
to become an SEN. I did not know the difference.
My brother knew the difference and he said no. He
wanted me to be an SRN. He said if I did SEN I would
have to do three years training, then another three
years on top - taking five or six years to become
an SRN. Many of our girls got trapped doing SEN
and had to go two to three years to become SRN.
I applied to another place. I wrote three letters
before I was accepted. I kept writing. When I came
over to England we would go to the labour exchange
who gave you a little bit of money to tide you over
until you got a job. She said to me to go to a factory.
I said no, I don't want to go to a factory; I want
to be a nurse.
Eventually the matron called me and when she did,
I was taken aback during the interview. She simply
rang the nursing tutor and said can you come and
meet this girl and show her round the classroom
etc. She has written to me three times. I though
she received my letters but did not acknowledge
them. She said to the tutor I was keen to become
a nurse. This happened on the Wednesday and she
told me to start on the Friday. I went to get my
black stockings etc, and on the Friday I went to
the hospital with my little case. The home sister
met me and said, "Come in". I was pleased
to be called a nurse. That was it!
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Was it
easy to progress?
Nothing is easy. Not really. We studied hard. We
had to. We needed to make the grade. There were
three quarters of us in the same group; we studied
together. Because we knew we were from a different
country we needed to do our best to get good grades,
otherwise what was the point of not doing it properly.
We worked hard. We came top, 2nd, 3rd - that sort
of thing.
One of the things that struck me was, every year,
someone received a gold medal. In the year when
all the black nurses came top there was no gold
medal. The matron said that there were no suitable
candidates to receive the gold medal this year.
How did that make you feel?
Terrible naturally. Then I felt bad. One of us should
have received the gold medal, but we did not. All
the black girls did well but there was not a suitable
candidate. We felt proud that we had worked so hard.
The following year the gold medal was awarded. We
felt bad.
Then you realise there is a difference here. We
continued working hard - rough or soft - we never
said it is because I am black. Even now I don't
allow that kind of stigma to stay with me. As far
as I am concerned I am a person in my own right
and I am as good as another person. When I have
done my best, no one can do better.
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I said to
matron, matron I'd like to do my SRN.
She said, 'Nurse Bennett - No. No. You have your
young family growing up. Three children, It will
be too hard for you. I suggest you go on to the
SEN. It takes only two years. You are a very good
nurse.'
'When I went home, thought about it, and thought
she was right. But then I came to the realisation
- wait - as a matter of fact I had passed the exam
in 18 months instead of two years. I thought - what
the bloody hell, this woman would have done to me
- you know - telling me, I couldn't have done it.
So I stayed in nursing until 1977. |
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During the
time I was training to be an engineer, I was sent
to low level station to Oxley. While I was at Oxley
training I was the only black man there. The other
men, the Englishmen, they put a petition up, not
to train me. So I'd been there days and days, and
nobody tell me anything. I was like a wanderer.
Just sit down all day, until my time come to go
home. And I reported it to my gaffer, and he said
that they would investigate. Well - they did investigate
- and it so happened I wasn't there too long after.
I was moved from there and I go back to Herbert
St.
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How were the interviewees prevented from realising their potential
in their chosen careers?
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