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Peggy Sarsfield

My sister was three years older than me, and she was already across here at St James’ doing her training. She made the base for the rest of us. She used to be always telling us about patients, the funny things that had happened to her, and being at her first delivery of a baby. I found all of that interesting and I thought, ‘Well I would quite like to do something like that as well.’

After completing my schooling, I just applied to come to St James’. I had no interest in going anywhere else, simply because I had my sister here and I knew that I would settle easier.

Even though it was hard leaving home, it was exciting as well, but at least my mum and dad were happy that we were going to be with each other.

I went to work in medicine for the elderly, which I’d loved in my training. They were just such an interesting group. When they finally got used to my accent and stopped asking the man in the next bed, “What did she say?,” I just loved them. They were able to tell you so many stories about the wars, about what they did, about Leeds and everything.

You’d be on a ward on night duty and you’d be looking after a ward on your own. The Sister would come round to see you, but it made you realise how important it was to be on the ball and to just remember that anything could happen. After 43 years, what I’d be proud of most is the fact that I did the best I could.

Peggy’s story was collected for the Irish Nurses in the NHS Oral History Project led by Professor Louise Ryan and Grainne McPolin, with Neha Doshi, London Metropolitan University.

Dimov Family

My wife Donia and I had left Bulgaria with our young son Tsanko back in 1995 to settle in New Zealand, where we lived for nine years and where our daughter Stefanie was born. We moved to the UK in 2004. My brother Doytchin and his wife Galina, both physicians, had moved to the UK directly from Bulgaria a few years earlier. We had all been attracted by the professional opportunities in the UK, and the NHS was a natural choice and a magnet for the three of us. My wife and I were also excited by the prospect of being closer to family both in the UK and Bulgaria, and to Europe.

Helen Chuah

I made the journey to Severalls Hospital, Essex, from Penang, Malaysia in 1971 to seek a better life. I wanted the nurse training that I couldn't get in Penang despite going to numerous interviews.

Jyotsana (Josh) Raval

Before the independence of India from the British Empire, Britain brought workers from India to East Africa to build the railways. That’s how my family came to be in Kenya. Political upheaval began in the late 1960s and my dad got concerned. He thought we needed to move out before there were any major issues. Because we had British passports as a result of Kenya being a former British colony, we were advised to come here. My dad came first and the rest of the family came about a year later.

Leila Phillips

I came to England in 1951, just before my 18th birthday. My life in Guyana was pleasant. I was a school girl and had a settled home. We were not rich in any way, but we had a comfortable life. The school I went to was like an English grammar school, and we followed the English curriculum very closely.
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