WE OFTEN complain about our beloved National Health Service, but spare a thought for families before it came into being 65 years ago.

At best, many working people had the help of a village ‘handywoman’, who combined nursing and midwifery with cleaning.

However, in some communities, self-help groups were formed in the early 20th century, allowing the less well-off to subscribe to the services of a qualified nurse – there was an extra charge for a midwife.

Doctors were too expensive and were not included in the schemes.

These early district nurses would walk the streets with their medical bags until enough cash was raised for their district to buy a bicycle.

The more fortunate ones were given a ‘motor bicycle’. In some cases, they would get a little Austin 7 car, with driving lessons provided.

Author Robert Sephton, of Cherwell Close, Abingdon, has written a book on one such organisation, the Bagley Wood District Nursing Association, which served Kennington, Sunningwell, Wootton, Radley and South Hinksey, then in Berkshire, from 1925.

He tells me: “It employed one nurse, then two and eventually three, as it proved its worth.

“It was largely organised by members of the middle class, who managed to raise enough money to build two bungalows for them – one in Kennington and one in Wootton. They still exist, although not occupied by nurses.

“For many working people, the nurses became the most accessible form of trained medical advice and care, particularly in rural areas, where there were few doctors and hospitals.

“As might be expected, the management committee was drawn from middle class ladies, with affluence and influence, and professional men with time to spare.”

In 1926, the association had 165 members. By 1946, the figure had risen to 850.

Similar organisations grew over the border in Oxfordshire – in 1939, 47 associations in the county employed a total of 54 nurses, six of them Queen’s Nurses, five state-registered and the remainder village nurse-midwives.

County associations were set up to give grants and see that standards were maintained, but local committees were responsible for paying the nurses’ salaries, finding homes for them and collecting fees.

By 1945, there were about 1,300 collectors of subscriptions in rural areas around Oxford.

In 1948, the assets of the district nursing associations were handed to local councils to help the sick and to support the new NHS.

Mr Sephton writes: “I don’t suppose there will be any nurses living now who were practising in 1948.

“But there may still be residents who benefited from their services in this and other parts of the country where they existed.”

Any memories of the early ‘district nurses’? Write and let me know.

More memories of the district nurses next week.