I’m Barbara Fox, originally from Newcastle but now living in Crawley, West Sussex, and I’m the author of the book ‘Bedpans & Bobby Socks’ and of this blog. I’m the daughter of Gwenda Gofton, through whose eyes the story is told, and I was inspired to write it after reading the letters my mother wrote home to her parents while she was working and travelling in 1950s America. Later, I also read the letters written by Pat, who Gwenda met as a trainee nurse at Newcastle General Hospital in 1952, and with whom she set off for Cleveland, Ohio, in 1957. The book is about the year they spent working as nurses in Cleveland before setting off in their 1949 Ford with three new friends – Molly, Maureen and Celia – to see the rest of the country.
Gwenda, Pat, Molly and Celia are still great friends after all these years. Sadly, Maureen died in 1999, but her daughter, Belinda, shared some stories about her mother with me for the book and has been hugely supportive of it.
Please follow the blog to share news about the book. I am also using it to record the journey we have all been on since its publication in March 2011. So many exciting things have happened, so many old friends reappeared, in that time. It sometimes feels as if the story is only just beginning …
Left to right, Gwenda, Pat, Molly, Maureen and Celia
Bedpans & Bobby Socks 