[renbri]

My wife has this memory of herself as a three or four year old living in Hillsborough during WW2 (She was born in 1940): she sees herself in a local “clinic” seated naked in a row of other little girls with a great lamp shining on them as if they were undergoing some sort of infrared treatment.
I tend to laugh and say “Are you sure you weren’t in Nazi Germany?” but Sybil is quite positive about the image so I wonder if anyone out there can tell me what it was that might have been going on?

[Sweatshopboy]

Sounds like the old treatment for psoriasis (coal tar baths then infra red.)

[PopT]

In those days we had regular visits from the School Nurse who used to check for head lice, mal nourishment, skin complaints etc.

If anything was detected you were sent to the clinic which was in the old Burrowlee House which is between Burrowlee Road and Broughton Road in Owlerton.

Being an old house in a small woodland it was quite daunting for a young child.

The staff in there were always busy and it was a no nonsense place which wasn't always pleasant but on saying this they did an excellent job.

They gave out cartons of Malt, cough mixture, Orange juice concentrate and all sorts of creams to deal with children's health complaints of the time.

I attended there regularly and it was good because I could visit my Granny Therese who lived across the road on Broughton Road.

Happy Days PopT

[hillsbro]

Hi renbri - welcome to the Forum! The ultra-violet "sunbath" treatment was to prevent rickets, which is caused by a lack of Vitamin D. This vitamin is synthesised by the skin under ultra-violet light (i.e. sunlight). See for example the old photo that accompanies this article.

In the post-war period, cod liver oil (rich in vitamin D) was more freely available and so in most areas this replaced the sunbaths. I remember in the 1950s being taken to the child welfare clinic (the upper floor of what is now the library building in Hillsborough Park) to be given regular health checks and a spoonful of cod liver oil (made palatable with orange juice). Rickets was rare in the 1950s, but it did occur for example in the children of West Indian families. This was because their traditional diet was fine in, say, Jamaica (where there was plenty of sunshine) but here in the UK the diet didn't include enough Vitamin D, and so a change in diet, vitamin supplements or UV light treatment was required.

[renbri]

Thanks for that hillsbro and PopT. Sybil can't remember the Burrowlee Rd building but I'm sure you've nailed the general idea.
Thanks again, and best wishes from down under.

[kay1]

I remember going with my mother and younger brother to Orchard St Clinic for "Sun Ray Treatment" for my brother (why he had it I never knew) he had to sit naked on a little chair with the other children all he had on was a pair of dark goggles. For being good if she had any money my mother would buy him a little dinky car from a toy shop on Church St. You have now got me wondering why he had to have this treatment all I can remember he was very small. (? must have done some good finished up being 6ft)