Parish of St Helen Witton Northwich Cheshire - People Profiles: Stella Worrell

Profile of Stella Worrell

I have been asked to write a short piece about my life: The first thing I can remember is my Mother holding me on the gatepost in Wallasey, waiting for my Father to return from his work in Liverpool.

When I was five we moved to Heswall where we had a view of the River Dee and the Welsh Hills. I went to a very small private school but when I was seven I went to the Grammar School at West Kirby. This meant travelling on my own on a local bus, a double decker bus and another walk, not a safe journey in those days. We always had a daily service at school.

When I was eight it was deemed safe for me to walk a mile along country lanes on a Sunday morning to attend our Church where at the age of thirteen my friend and I were confirmed. I am pleased to say I was then able to make my own white Confirmation dress. I continued to attend Church most Sundays and looking back it always seemed to be sunny.

At the age of eighteen I travelled to the Royal Southern Hospital, Liverpool, to train as a Physiotherapist. By this time the war had started and I travelled across the Mersey from Birkenhead to Liverpool by ferry. The river was frequently mined and the ferryboat was often preceded by a minesweeper – we didn’t take any notice of this although the shipping in the Mersey was often bombed as were many of the buildings in Liverpool.

Studying was frequently interrupted in the evenings by air raids but I went to Church as often as possible. After the war I saw an advertisement for a physiotherapist in New Zealand, a country I had always longed to see. I applied for the post and eventually sailed out to this my third post. We went via the Suez Canal, which I found a fascinating experience and took six weeks to reach Wellington. A long, lazy holiday! Church services were held on board.

The hospital was on the West coast of the South Island, and I lived in the Nurses Home. As I walked over each morning to the hospital I had a wonderful view of the Southern Alps. They were in perpetual snow and some days at eight am the sun would be shining and turning them into glorious colours.

On arriving in New Zealand I was pressed into joining both the Church choir and the Alpine Club. The latter met to walk or climb each Sunday, but they were very considerate to two of us and we were always able either to attend our eight o’clock service at Church or return in time for the six thirty evensong.

I am afraid I had to roll up my climbing trousers under my black choir skirt, change my climbing boots and don my surplice and mortar board. Work at the hospital was from eight am until five pm and being the only physiotherapist I had to treat any and everything that came along. The first heart operation was done at Grey Hospital on a little girl and caused quite a stir then.

I spent a very busy life there and thoroughly enjoyed the work, as well as having a busy social life including swimming, badminton, two other choirs, skiing and riding. After two and a half years my Mother was seriously ill, so I came back to help my Father look after her, my parents had previously moved to Wales and so I got a post at Colwyn Bay Hospital.

I had worked in the Northwich Hospital after my training and had very good friends here, on one of my weekend visits I again met Geoffrey, we quickly picked up our old friendship and in a tiny Church in Wales got married, living happily for almost fifty years and still attending this church together.

Stella Worrell