Flu in 1957

[olefours]

Does anyone remember being wrapped in scratchy blankets in bed in the infirmary and being given a powder which was supposed to lower our temperature? It was called a stew. I can't find any reference online to what we might have been given, and would be grateful for any information. It obviously didn't do us much harm if we're still aliiiiii

[sejintenej]

That, Sally, I think must have been at Hertford where, we are told, they had their own way of doing things.

As far as I recall, at Horsham we were dumped in any convenient bed and simply left to ferment slowly. I suspect thatwe did have the luxury of sheets but as for the rest it seemed to be a reenactment of WWI military hospitals with lines of patients propped at the regulation angle

[storyteller]

Yes I recall the stews and that flu epidemic. My guess is the powder was some form of aspirin which would have worked.

[seajayuu]

Yes, I remember "stews". Horrid. But that must have been in the '59 epidemic - I didn't start at CH until Sept '58. I remember that at least 2 Wards were used as convalescence areas. Were we sent home early? Do I remember correctly that we all had to have a clear throat swab before being allowed back the next term? In which case it must have been Strep or 'Flu and Strep.

[Katharine]

That must have been Spring 1959, Chrissy, I don't remember any such epidemic. I started in September 59.

I don't remember much about the infirmary as I was so healthy, I was in the new annexe once in about Upper IV, my first stay in the infirmary main building was when I was in the VI form. Sister told me to go to a particular ward, and I had no idea where it was! Sister took great delight in telling someone much younger than me to show me where it was.

[seajayuu]

"Up Tinf" maybe that should go on the Housey slang strand, but - it would probably be lost on them.

[J.R.]

"Up Tinf" maybe that should go on the Housey slang strand, but - it would probably be lost on them.

I have heard this one before, but memory fading. Might have been on this site, or at Horsham mid-sixties.