I WAS very interested to read Mrs Joan Pearce’s memoirs in the week’s Gazette, of Berryfield House, Bradford on Avon.
I was evacuated to Berryfield in October 1941, from Hammersmith Hospital. The staff then was made up by sisters and staff midwives from the London hospitals. The matron, Miss Marshall, was from Guys Hospital and the obstetrician, Mr Wilfred Shaw, from Barts. We were all billeted out with people in Bradford on Avon. I lived with Mr and Mrs Drew in Winsley Road.
Expectant mothers from the East End were sent to Bradford on Avon one month before baby was expected, to stay at Woolley Grange (a former hotel) to escape the bombing in London. A cook housekeeper catered for their needs and we did the antenatal care. When labour started they were transferred to Berryfield and remained there for ten days.
I left Berryfield in September 1945. When I retired in 1976, I had a friend I met at Berryfield, Doris Lewis, and we bought a house in Sutton Benger. I have lived in Chippenham since 1983. All Doris’ family lived in Marshfield.
KITTY SPARKS
Castle Lodge
Gladstone Road 
Chippenham