A Peerie Peek at da Past

Enforced idleness, after a replacement knee joint, led to reminiscences and this book was born. Loosely divided into three parts it begins with memories of childhood and of growing up on a croft. Then by recounting her days as a nurse the many changes which have taken place in the profession are highlighted. From a time before intensive care beds and penicillin, training at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in the 1940s and joining the Civil Nursing Reserve and being posted back to Shetland, to work as a health visitor in the 1970s and early 1980s. Life working in an old-fashioned shop and post office in Walls, with income being augmented by catering for the summer visitors, is also recalled. The variety of subjects covered make A Peerie Peek at da Past a refreshing and interesting account of times past. Agnes Hobbin was born in 1921, the daughter of a crofter fisherman from Geosetter, Bigton, in the parish of Dunrossness, Shetland. She started nursing the day war was declared, leaving it on marriage in January 1947. Twenty-three years later in 1970, after bringing up a family, she resumed nursing, gaining the certificate of Health Visiting at Dundee College of Technology in 1976. She practised full-time health visiting until her retirement. The author’s royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the local branch of the Cancer Research Campaign.