Half a century has passed since a group of trainee nurses first met to embark on a career of caring.

Ipswich Star: Nurses who trained at Ipswich Hospital and Anglesea Road Hospital gathered on Wednesday 17, September to mark their 50th reunion.Nurses who trained at Ipswich Hospital and Anglesea Road Hospital gathered on Wednesday 17, September to mark their 50th reunion.

And this week, 50 years on, the women gathered to rekindle memories and friendships.

The group all trained at the former Anglesea Road Wing of Ipswich Hospital, now Anglesea Heights Nursing Home, with many going on to have long nursing careers and some ending up overseas.

They met for lunch at The Raven pub, in Ravenswood, on Wednesday and an old group photograph of the nurses at the site helped them to reminisce about their first day in the uniform.

Among the group at the reunion was Marion Clarke, 68, of Ipswich, who after her training, worked as a staff nurse and in occupational health nursing, in addition to other positions in the sector.

The grandmother-of-five said: “It was good fun. A lot of us used to live in the nurses’ home there (Norton House) and we had some good times.

“There was some high jinx but a lot of hard work. We have got good memories of our training.

“It was brilliant (the reunion). We didn’t stop talking from the time we met to the time we left. We were reminiscing about old times and catching up on how we are all doing.”

During their training, the nurses at the reunion were involved in a number of different activities including communicating with patients and ensuring they were fed properly.

The hospital was founded as the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital and Dispensary, before becoming Ipswich Hospital, Anglesea Road Wing.

It closed in the mid 1980s after its services were transferred to what is now Ipswich Hospital in Heath Road.