An Armful of Babies and a Cup of Tea cover art

An Armful of Babies and a Cup of Tea

Memoirs of a 1950s NHS Health Visitor

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An Armful of Babies and a Cup of Tea

By: Molly Corbally
Narrated by: Karina Fernandez
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About this listen

For all fans of Call the Midwife - a touching memoir of a young health visitor in postwar England (from the 1940s to the 1970s). After serving as a nurse in WW2, Molly Corbally joined the brand new NHS and became one of the first official District Health Visitors, attending to mothers and babies from all walks of life in the picturesque village near Coventry she came to call home. Social work was uncharted territory at the time, and Britain was very much worse for wear - TB, polio, measles and whooping cough were just some of the hazards new babies faced. Social conditions could also add to the problems, when poverty and alcoholism were rife.

Armed with only her nursing training, her common sense and a desire to serve, Molly set out to win over a community and provide a new and valuable service in times of great change. As well as the challenges there was also joy and laughter, from the woman who finally had a baby after fifteen years of trying, to the woman who thought she should use marmalade as nappy cream, because the hospital had never taken the label off the jar they were using to store it.

Warm, witty and moving, An Armful of Babies is a vivid portrait of rural England in the post-war years, and a testament to an NHS in its own infancy and to what hasn't changed: the bond between parents and their children, and the importance of protecting that.

©2018 Molly Corbally (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Medicine & Health Care Industry Sociology Health Witty Memoir Village

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All stars
Most relevant
I am a modern day outreach worker, doing baby weighing, visiting families alone with Health Visitor. I love my job. This book was so lovely for me to hear differences from back then. Well narrated too.

I really loved this book

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I really enjoyed this book as it was easy to pickup and loved the tales of how respected the nursing profession was and how your babies first nurse became family. Loved it

A lovely look back to school nurses and midwifery.

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beautifully , sensitively, enthusiastically written and read. loved it... read atleast 4 times!!!! more please!x

SIMPLY WONDERFUL!

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Beautifully written, and wonderfully narrated.
The author gives you the opportunity to understand how the birth of the health worker came to be. The many stories of different patients made great listening. How different life was in the 1950s
Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Very informative listening

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Brilliant book of our NHS in the yesteryear and the difference compared to today’s practices are quite unbelievable

Fantastic read

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