The Nice Girl and the Soldiers: Life of a VAD Nurse during the First World War

17 January 2014, 11am-12pm @ Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University

As a teenager during the Great War, Mollie Ross of Gosforth worked as a VAD auxiliary nurse in the Northumberland War Hospital.  Who did she encounter in the hospital? What kind of connection with the patients did she have? How would she have been affected by this contact?

Copyright © Lindsay Davies
Copyright © Lindsay Davies

This talk will offer a tour through the pages of her autograph book, a small leather-bound volume she carried with her while she worked and in which the wounded servicemen shared their thoughts, jokes, poems and paintings. This book, with its fascinating and often moving content, offers a rich glimpse of Mollie’s exposure to war – and to life – as she entered 20th century adulthood.

The talk will be delivered by Lindsay Davies, Mollie’s granddaughter, and is organised by Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums.

Tickets are £4, or free for students (student ID required). To book, visit the Hatton Gallery event page or email Marleen Vincenten.

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