In this deeply personal episode, Lisa sits down with her mam to continue an honest, heart‑warming conversation about her decades‑long nursing career and the parallel journey of motherhood. Together, they explore the realities of shift work, the transition from hospital wards to community nursing, and the unexpected joy and balance that came with it. As her mum shares, “When I entered community… it just brought me alive. It just changed my life entirely.”

The episode moves through stories of raising children while navigating demanding schedules, the guilt many mothers feel, and the reassurance that love — not perfection — is what truly shapes a childhood. Lisa reflects on her own upbringing, saying she always felt supported and never missed out, even during the busiest seasons.

Listeners are invited into powerful moments from her mum’s work in women’s health, family planning, and sexual health — including the emotional weight of supporting young women through difficult decisions. Her mum explains the importance of choice with compassion and clarity: “The positivity is that you have a choice.”

The episode also touches on resilience: studying for a degree at 56, working full‑time, caring for family, and still showing up with heart. It’s a testament to reinvention at any age, the strength of women, and the legacy of kindness passed from one generation to the next.

This is an episode full of laughter, honesty, and the kind of mother‑daughter love that feels like home.

Warning - themes of pregnancy termination discussed,

In this week’s episode, Pam takes us deeper into her incredible journey from the knicker factory to the hospital wards. She shares what nursing training looked like in the 70s — walking miles with heavy baskets of books, earning just £24 a month, and learning everything hands‑on, bed by bed.

We talk about the old‑school wards, the realities of women’s health back then, the lack of screening, and the courage it took for patients to seek help. There are laughs too what is the steriliser??, the legendary “donkin” , and the sister who collected everyone’s sugar.

This episode is a heartfelt conversation between Lisa and her mam, tracing her journey from leaving school at 15 with no qualifications to beginning her path in nursing.

1. Growing up without academic confidence and leaving school early because of the system at the time.
2. Starting work at kayser bondor, the local knicker factory, where she learned about people, resilience, humour, and herself.
3. The vivid, funny stories of factory life — from learning to smoke for extra breaks to jamming knickers in machines
4. Realising she wanted more, and bravely applying to nursing despite dyslexia she didn’t yet know she had.
5. Becoming a pre‑nursing “daffodil”, working 9–5 on the wards, learning hands‑on skills, and discovering she was a practical learner.
6. Entering SEN training at 18, supported by mentors who recognised her strengths.
7. Rotating through wards across Merthyr General and St. Tydfil’s, building the foundation for the nurse she would become.

The episode is warm, funny, nostalgic, and deeply human — a mother sharing her story, and a daughter discovering the roots of her own positivity.