I remember this very well, and for good reason. I was a comparitively new
bride and wanted a baby. In the March 1962 I had the inoculation in
Ferndale. There were a lot of people waiting to have theirs at the time. Well,
that month I had my wish, and in the December I had my first child. I
always made a bit of a joke of it and said it was the smallpox vaccination
that made me pregnant.
I also remember another little tale that amused me later. A woman came
into my mother,s house to use the phone. She was asking permission to leave
her house because she had been in contact with a smallpox victim. I think
she thought that it was the gap of time that made her wonder. Heck that
was 50 years ago. Still counting then..
Penrhys was our local isolation hospital. Right on top of one of our
mountains in Pontygwaith. A nice long walk on a fine day.
All the best,
Maureen
Rhondda
In a message dated 29/02/2012 16:53:18 GMT Standard Time,
jill(a)shottle.plus.com writes:
For those interested outside Wales but not overseas I fear
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w6cx5
The Indian Doctor is on TV in the afternoon in England.
I now recall that my father had a smallpox inoculation scar which still
showed a circle of small puncture scars. Was there an earlier outbreak in
the Rhondda?
There was of course Penrhys hospital as is shown here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrhys
Industrial Penrhys
In 1904 the mining population of Rhondda was over 110,000 and still
expanding rapidly. Although a 'fever hospital' had been constructed in
nearby Ystrad, the threat of smallpox had become a concern to the Medical
Officer of Health, who recommended a separate containment site. In 1906 the
Health Committee purchased three acres of land at Penrhys, chosen for its
accessibility to both Rhondda valleys and its distance from other habitable
buildings. The smallpox hospital was completed in 1907 and at first served
the Rhondda and later all of South Wales. In the 1970s the building was
deemed unnecessary and was burnt to the ground by the South Wales Fire
Service in 1971.
===
Possibly this concern to the Medical Officer of Health resulted in young
people being immunised.
My best wishes, Jill
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