Desmond & Ann Hall

At last a belated blog contribution on behalf of Ann and myself.

Too frightened of Malcolm not to do it , but rather dull I
fear in comparison with some of those posted by our
peripatetic and adventurous colleagues.
Memories of Guys many and mostly pleasurable; some
highlights being -
liquid lunches at the Kings Head supervised by landlord
Jim and led (? astray ) by Mike Steyn. One Lawrence
Youlten used to give us racing tips and consume fair
quantities of Russian Stout sometimes with interesting
results, though I see that it is not mentioned in his
blog.
London - Brighton walk with I think Samiran and John
Beales. Ann accompanied as far as Elephant and Castle by
which time she felt that high heels were unsuitable for
the rest of the journey. Still have the green tie, very
narrow and Guinness-stained.
hard afternoon's work at Whitbread brewery on an
"industrial" visit. They started with a promotional film
about "Final Selection" a strong ale which naturally had
to be sampled afterwards, the only time I have seen Ann
rather the worse for wear.
walking down the river towards Tower Bridge past Hays
Wharf and through Bermondsey. What a difference today.

Ann and I were married in November 1961 soon after
qualification, golden wedding rapidly approaching. We both
did our house jobs at King Edward VIIth hospital in
Windsor where the consultants were most friendly. The
other junior staff were mainly from Mary's and didn't let
the work get in the way of having a good time. We are
still in touch with some of them.

I did an obstetric job at Old Windsor, one of Queen
Victoria's old workhouses and now the site of an up-market
housing development. Highlight here was meeting David
French's first cousin doing paediatrics and another man
who knew how to enjoy himself. We remained in contact
until his death last year.

After that I joined Ann's father in practice in Gerrards
Cross / Chalfont St Peter. Ann took some time off to have
three children but returned to work when her father
retired in 1968. We were then in practice on our own for
three years which was very rewarding financially but hard
especially covering the nights and weekends. In 1972 we
merged with the other local practice to form a 6 man
partnership. Initially we all practised from our own homes
but later moved to the converted house of one of the other
partners, very small and pokey with portacabins, and then
to a purpose built large surgery opposite Chalfont
Hospital, a very active "cottage" hospital in those days but now
sadly not so well used.

Ann's special interests in practice were in surgery in
which she did several clinical assistantships and
geriatrics and mine dermatology and ophthalmology.
We did our stint as secretary and President of the
Chiltern Medical Society which like many such societies
has now fallen on hard times.
Ann retired about ten years ago and I was part time for
four years and then did locums for another three; might
have gone on longer had it not been for struggle in
mastering different computer systems in different
surgeries.

Like most people we find retirement very busy! We had
three children. The first was a Guys trained doctor who
worked for Cyril Chantler and is now an oncologist at
Mount Vernon. She and her Australian psychiatrist husband
share a house with us and three grandchildren in
Beaconsfield. The second is a rector in rural Suffolk with
five churches to control and the third an ecologist with
Ove Arup who knows a lot about planning law and is good at
arguing (like his mother!). There are seven much loved
grandchildren the eldest of whom has just left school and
is learning to drive causing trauma to my nervous system
and even worse to the bodywork of my 10 year old Honda.

Ann is very involved with cultural pursuits especially
painting. She takes three painting classes a week which
means she is experienced in all media though her favourite
would be portraits in oils. She sings in the church choir
and does a lot of gardening.
I also am involved in the gardening though only mowing and
labouring having fortunately been ordered off the flower
beds many years ago after digging up some prize specimen
as a weed. My lifelong interest in golf continues and if I
don't get at least two games a week withdrawal symptoms
begin to kick in.
Many lifelong friendships have been formed on the golf
course and I have played in 30 countries; will save
further details to bore you all with next week. I also
took up picture framing to complement Ann's efforts and
that is much enjoyed.

We have travelled a fair amount over the years, highlights
perhaps being Argentina and the Cape, wonderful for winter
sun. As age advances it becomes rather nice just to load
up the car with golf clubs, painting equipment and a
suitcase of pills, some to be eaten and some which "might
come in handy" and keep to the UK. We have had two
especially splendid trips to the North of Scotland and the
Outer Hebrides, still the most beautiful place in the
world, pity about the rain. West of Ireland also highly
recommended but slightly spoilt in parts by haphazard or
non-existent planning laws.

We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone next
week