THE HOLE IN THE ROOF

ARCHIVE for August / September 2002

UPDATE: Sunday 15th September 2002

• Well folks, it's hard to believe but The Shrine today celebrates its 6 month anniversary in cyberspace. It truly feels like 6 years, but with any luck, we'll still be going strong in 6 years too, though I somewhat doubt the physical focus of our affection will be with us throughout the entire journey. But we'd like to say thanks for all of your kind words and general grooviness over the past 6 months. So, what about updates?...
• Oh dear - it appears that there isn't any. What!? Well, that's the situation - and this is the deal: Over the past few weeks, Webmaster Owen has been fully occupied with post-natal fun, general madness and sleep-deprivation with his new daughter, whilst Webmaster Damon is living in limbo, having relocated with little more than a Dick Whittington-esqe sack to his name in order to begin a new job in the newspaper industry. For this, we offer our sincerest whatever it is you want us to offer. But before you panic - DON'T! The Shrine is not dead, nor will it be dead. We are both being forced to take a little breather whilst we get our respective lives into some kind of normailty once again. And as soon as we do, there'll be plenty of new stuff up here for you (and believe us - there's some magic things in the pipeline). But in the meantime, we're still enjoying your correspondence (and we both continue also pop-up on the message board occasionally too, as you may well have noticed) - so keep enjoying the website - and things will get moving again before you know it. Be good.
• Viva La Hospital!

UPDATE: Saturday 24th August 2002

• This update is proudly brought to you by Mr Brain's Pork Faggots in a Rich West Country Sauce. Well, actually it isn't (though if they offer me money, I'll gladly accept it) - but show me a product more worthy of ridicule and you'll win a prize. Our real sponsor is at the bottom of this page...
• Just a couple of things today because although there's many new things to get up, Webmaster Damon is dying of the flu and Webmaster Owen hasn't slept for a month (but young Jazzy Bones is doing well). So here's a few new bits to peruse in the meantime...
• A group of former Cadet Nurses has put together a few words for you about life at the CRCMH in the late 1940s. This nice account - which expands a bit more upon some of Jeanne Hopkins' previous recollections - is permenently accessible via the Tales and History sections.
• More added to the History page (as usual) - most notably 2 pictures of the Duchess of Connaught and a little explanation of who she was - courtesy of Michael Zwerdling.
• Some new posts added to the Your Tales page - going by the titles of Bang, Must, Skull, and Goose. Remember that not all emails we get sent will end up here (especially now that the message board exists) - but it's still an interesting collection of what people think of the hospital and this website.
• A big, big thank you to Sir Robert "Daze" Barker for locating a copy of Barbara Ansell et al's 1997 book "Looking Back 1947-1985: The Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital." This, the only "proper" book ever written about the site, is a most valuable resource (see bottom of History page for a little mention). Over then coming months, we'll be putting some excerpts and text from it up here for you all to have a look at - which'll be great. But for the time being, have a little taster by way of this picture. Yes - it's the world famous "Wheely Thing" actually in use at the hospital - cool!
• 3000 hits and counting - "groovy."
• Mystic feel-good things coming shortly- along with more from Ray (if he ever returns from the Bahamas, that is).
• And to conclude today, we'll leave you with a couple of suggestions for a "Hole in the Roof" sponsor more ridiculous than Brain's Faggots. The first, from our old pal John Ewen, and the second one from Daze...

The Rollerboard™ - a "revolution" in skateboarding
(think about it for a moment)

Chuffing® Haddock Pasty -
Fresh Minky with sweet cured bacon, potato, onions &
carrot in a light puff pastry - Cornish through and through.
(say no more)

UPDATE: Friday 2nd August 2002

• Firstly, before we begin, let's have three gigantic cheers for Webmaster Owen and the lovely Zoe as they welcome their new daughter to Planet Earth® (a division of Microsoft Intergalactic Inc). Born at 2.16 am on Friday 26th July, Jasmine Kara™ was released unto the world weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces, all bits intact, very aware, peaceful, and not a bit wrinkly. The Flincher™ watched over the machine that goes "Ping!" as she was delivered inside the crumbling maternity department of the CRCMH and... okay, so none of that last bit is true. But the rest is - and there was much rejoicing (yay). The happy parents will graciously accept gifts of gold and frankincense - but don't worry about the myrrh. "But it's a valuable balm!" I hear you say. True, but we all know that it's also a dangerous animal. So, relaxation and tranquility is now very much in order. But it's not going to happen is it?...
• Right - to the updates (or should that be Batmobile?). We have a new addition to the Celebrities section - pioneering television broadcaster Barbara Kelly. This section has also been cleaned up a little in that the celebrities are now in alphabetical order as you scroll down the page. There's also shortcut anchors at the top of the page - which might one day become useful if the page ever expands significantly/ we just start making up celebrities for "fun"...
• Some great new stuff has found its way onto the Historic Photographs page. In many ways, the most significant (simply because it is the oldest CRCMH related photo on the whole website) is a postcard featuring a visit to the "original" hospital by King George V and Queen Mary. This appears courtesy of the Zwerdling Nursing Archives - and do check out their website if you're partial to nursing attire through the ages - and let's face it - who isn't? Also on the same page, we have some more nice old images of CRCMH nurses thanks to Jill Tweedy, and Jeanne Hopkins (as ever). Several of these - all from the middle of last century - were taken at Bray Court (later to become Bray Studios, but at the time a training centre of sorts for CRCMH staff). Jeanne adds:

My year was only the second year to train, and for some of the time we lived in CRCMH dormitories that later became wards 14/13/12. We were at Bray Court for the prelims, and after that lived at Wexham Park House near Slough long before a hospital was ever built there, being bussed to the CRCMH by hospital transport. To prove this point, four new pictures show our prelim group taken at Bray Court, and one at the CRCMH.

And indeed they do. Go have a look, as mentioned earlier, on the Historic Photographs page.

• A new shot of Wire Jesus in the "bloodstained" CRCMH kitchen has been uncovered and has joined the others on the Wire Jesus Collection page.
• A few new things have been added to the History page. Don't ask me what though. I can never remember exactly what's been added to the History page, but it's something to do with The Times newspaper I think...
• Some further pieces added to the Security Guard "interview." These include some comments about intruders, and more importantly, "Mrs Y's" feedback on the artist's impression of the Soldier from Ward 13.
• New links on the Elsewhere page for the Nurse Postcard website and the Canadian Military Project.
• Several very subtle yet tedious maintainance things (including dodgy links and bad HTML fixing) that nobody is going to notice anyway have been undertaken.
• Believe me - Many good things are on their way... Stay Tuned!
• And that's just about it for today - but not before we say thanks to John Ramanachala for the Bywaters sketch (which we didn't do last month) - and congratulations re: yet-to-be-named quantum younger sister. As you said - the entire thing and the world is all so tantric. So true...
  

- RFC -
Official Food of The CRCMH Shrine
("Can you guess what the "C" stands for yet?")