FIRST PERSON: Jane Collier MBE talks about her voluntary service through St John Ambulance

She talks to CHRISTOPHER BINDING

I joined St John Cadets when I was eight years old but they were called St John Juniors in those days.

My grandmother always wanted to work in the health service and was the lady in the village who people always called whenever there was a crisis or people were having babies.

When I said I wanted to be a nurse she said “go for it” and to “work hard in school” as I could have left school at 15 and went into the local factories but my mother insisted that I stayed on.

In the valleys St John Cymru was linked with mines and as my father was part of Mines Rescue and St John so I decided to follow that path.

I progressed through the ranks and at the age of 18 I trained at Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport until I qualified as a nursing officer at 21.

Coming from a quiet little valleys community to the big city and finding yourself on a ward with some horrendous injuries was shocking as a young 18 year old who perhaps had never seen ‘life’ before.

However the banter was brilliant and we had some great fun on the wards which they perhaps don’t have these days.

We worked on mainly male wards and when the rugby was on we used to bring in little portable televisions which probably wouldn’t be allowed today.

I then moved on from my senior staff nursing position at the Royal Gwent to a district nurse specialist role after training at Swansea University. In 1981 I became a district nursing sister.

District nursing is a completely different style of nursing because instead of having the camaraderie of the wards and working with people closely you are now on your own in peoples’ homes and you have to think on your feet with no kit.

I think district nursing is the best type of nursing you can do in the NHS and I’m still doing it today on a semi –retired basis.

We are the Queen’s nurses for a start because Queen Victoria gave her stamp of approval for district nurses and actually created a fund that pays for nurses to become district nurses.

You become guests in peoples’ homes and part of their families so it is a particular part of nursing that is very intimate and you do still come across funny characters and situations.

I used to have a colleague who was afraid of animals and when we approached a farm there was chickens coming sideways at her and a old horse galloping down the field and she ran screaming to the car.

I was helpless because I was laughing so much.

Another time in 1982 we had a big snow storm and I was walking through Blackwood trying to get to a patient and where the drifts of snow had gone I was literally walking across the tops of cars.

The snow was so deep I literally disappeared down between two cars but was luckily saved by a milkman.

We also used to have to boil our syringes because we never had sterilised disposable ones and had to cook gauze and dressings in the oven to sterilise them.

I did district nursing for 33 years and it has always been in the valleys in areas ranging from Blackwood, Fleur-de-Lys and Markham to Crumlin, Newbridge and in my later career, Pontypool and Torfaen.

The history of district nursing is very interesting too and I do give talks for the Women’s Institute about that alongside teaching at Cardiff School of Medicine on an ad hoc basis.

Within St John Cymru today I’m still involved in quite a few duties including working as the main nurse at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for all their concerts and rugby matches.

I run a voluntary eight-bedded emergency unit with St John Cymru at the stadium with doctors, paramedics and others nurses and we see anything and everything that comes into that stadium.

I’m a black belt in taekwondo and although I’m very good at talking my way out of situations it does give you is a bit of confidence when dealing with drunken people.

If you imagine 75,000 people in one area we have things from heart attacks and strokes to sickness and diarrhoea, people falling over drunk and everything in between.

Even though I retired at 55 it is difficult to suddenly stop when you have always been busy.

At the moment I’m on the executive board of St John and if nurses have issues they can come to me for advice whether that be discussing setting up first aid posts or voluntary issues.

I also advise on training programmes, still get requested to interview prospective nurses in Cardiff and have worked as magistrate at Newport Magistrates Court for 15 years.

I have done other mad things aswell such as playing rugby against the Pontypool Front Row for charity purposes and working with Tibetan refugees at a school in Northern India as part of a St John training programme.

As a nurse you learn something new every day and what I have found is that things tend to come full circle.

I have four children and we still always go on duty together at some time or other.

My son works for the ambulance service, my oldest daughter teaches and is the registered first aider at a primary school, my second daughter is a GP and my other daughter works at the Aneurin Bevan Health Board as a district nurse allocator

Plus when I was in casualty last week when I broke my arm the doctor that saw me was an ex-St John cadet from mid-Wales.

With the MBE I get a little bit embarrassed as I’m sure there are people out there who have done more than I have and perhaps deserve a lot more praise.

For example my husband, Roderic Collier, is a big part of the charity and probably does more than I do.

He is a Knight in St John, was a former commissioner for Cardiff and Gwent and still assists with all the big duties for the charity.

Looking back, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with St John and have not seen it as a stepping stone to an award but just as part of my life and my children’s lives.

St John has served my children well as people and in their careers and I have two grandsons who are just coming up to be old enough to join and I hope they will.

You do see some awful things as a nurse but the most important thing I have learned is to maintain sense of humour that can see you through the tough times.

I would like to thank everyone I have worked with and I hope people will consider joining St John as it is a charity I’m proud to have dedicated my life to.