Black Tights Designed To Keep Night Nurses Warm

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30269, 23 October 1963, Page 2

Black Tights Designed To Keep Night Nurses Warm

(By ZALIA THOMAS) LONDON, October 17. The black tights shown at the London Nursing Exhibition, as a suggestion for keeping night nurses warm, came as a shock to the nursing fraternity, but the manufacturers were quick to point out that although they were modelled with only an accompanying cloak, they were designed for wearing under the official uniform and would, in fact, look no different from the black stockings normally worn by nurses.

There is, however, a general move to make the nurse of 1963 more attractive, and the new uniforms on show at the exhibition combine the modern trends of fashion with ease of * laundering, wide use being made of nylon, teryiene and stretch fabrics.

Hemlines, too, are now just below the knee although matron’s hem remains ait midcalf length. New, too, are nurses’ capes in foam-back nylon. Completely washable and weighing only 12oz, they sell at £5 as against £4 for the traditional cape of heavy navy wool weighing three pounds Laundering has always been a major problem at hospitals and this has now been eased to some extent by the introduction of disposable caps, collars and cuffs which sell at less than the cost of laundering—for example, 20 of these paper caps sell at ss. The manufacturers claim that they now supply 50 per cent of the hospital boards in the United Kingdom. I was dubious of the durability of this disposable wear but was assured by a representative

of the firm that he had soaked one of the caps in has bath for 12 hours, hung it up to dry, and it was stiM completely wearable. Selling like hot cakes at the exhibition were solid silver uniform buckles. Made in five differing designs, all from original Georgian moulds, they are the work of the London silversmiths and all bear the official hall mark Costing more than an average week's pay, they are the only individuality allowed in a nurse’s uniform and the nurses consider the seven or 13 guineas they cost well spent.

Worn with these buckles are belts of nylon petersham of which the manufacturers claim to have sold 30.000 yards and to have received only one complaint from a nurse who had not bothered

to detach the buckle from the belt when washing and wringing! Nurses in general will be interested to learn that the conventional regatta dresses which required starching and ironing are now replaced by terylene regatta which can be boiled and drip-dried. The forty-eighth Annual Professional Nurses and Midwives' Conference and the London Nursling Exhibition (to give it its full title) at which all the new designs were introduced was opened by Miss Anna Neagle, C.8.E., who will be remembered for her screen portrayals of Florence Nightingale and of Edith Cavell.

Miss Neagle carried out extensive research into the lives of these two famous nurses before making the films and gave the proceeds of the premieres of her film. "The Lady Of The Lamp.” to the Eoyal College of Nursing. She is also a member of the council of the Edith Cavell Homes for Nurses. The choice of Miss Neagle to open the exhibition was, therefore, a particularly apt one.

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