Memories of The National Childrens' Home Sanatorium
When TB was prevalent
By Mrs. M. D. Yerrill (2010)
My maiden name was Tyler and I was born in Letchworth in 1937. My father had TB and was being nursed by my mother at home. He passed away in 1948 at the age of thirty-nine. As I was diagnosed with suspected TB just prior to my seventh birthday (25 November 1944) I was taken by my mother to Harpenden on 26 November.
I remember being confined to bed and sleeping outside on a veranda with a tarpaulin which was pulled down at night emptying its contents of earwigs over the beds. I seem to remember that there were about five of us on the veranda at this time. I might add that we were being looked after by some very kind Polish nurses.
After this preliminary treatment, life was much as in a boarding school with the addition of medical check-ups, cod liver oil and fresh air. One memory that does remain was that on VE day we were taken around Harpenden on a trailer pulled by a tractor, seated on straw bales and waving Union Jacks.