Harlow Wood Hospital & 'Barringers'
P Marples
P Marples
An early collecting tin made to raise money for Harlow Wood Orthopaedic Hospital. While the words on it may make you shudder, it does make us aware that this is how people with disabilities were referred to a number of years ago.
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The collecting tin is a double piece of local history as it was made by the Mansfield Firm of ‘Barringers.’ See the picture below .
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My mother Mrs Kathleen Bowler nee Howiss worked for Baringer Wallis & Manners before and during the Second World War,I think she was a chargehand or similar she was in charge of a number of women on night shift during the war. I remember her having a disfigured hand but not so bad that she couldn’t use it but disfigured non the less which she was a bit self conscious about, this was caused by her hand getting trapped in a press at Baringers (before the war I think). No compensation in those days if you tried to get any you were fired or sacked as it was called in those days, thank goodness for the emergence of trade unions in later years.
An incident my mother refered to a number of times at Baringers when she was on night shift during the war she used to make tea for the women in her department for break time. One night she went to the canteen which was in darkness switched on the light and heard a rustling sound for a second she thought no more about it and put the kettle on. Whilst she waited for it to boil she leaned on the table and held onto edge of it and felt a crunch, she looked underneath and it was covered in cockroaches, obviously the rustling was the insects getting away from the light. Worse still, under the table were open topped tea chests holding the tea and sugar.
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