I arrived in Luton in the Spring of 1969 to work at the Children's Annexe of the Luton and Dunstable hospital (also known as the L&D) . The main entrance of the hospital was on Tennyson road and the premises extended to London Road at the rear. I enjoyed my SHO tenure here. I also met Vera who was a nurse at the Annexe and who was later to become my wife. I did not realise it then, but Luton was soon to become my home. 

The Children's annexe was demolished about twenty years ago when the paediatric department moved to the main hospital. After the move, things weren't quite the same. Where the Children's Annexe once stood, residential private homes have now been built. As I recall, the closure of the Children's Annexe wasn't welcomed by all. And it was also sad to see the closure of St. Mary's hospital--the Geriatric wing of the L&D.

As I see it, the closure of the paediatric and the geriatric hospitals and the resultant move of these departments to the main hospital building has meant squeezing the available resources into one hospital building--not a very satisfactory state of affairs. I am sure a lot of the local residents will testify to the lack of space, parking and other facilities at the hospital. Despite attempts by the authorities concerned to extend the premises, things haven't improved and it is my personal opinion that they are fighting a losing battle.

Besides, Luton has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years and even the floating population has increased since it became a University.   

Luton does not have much to offer the visitor. It is however very close to London--only about 30 minutes by train. Luton also has an airport--known as London Luton airport. The main operator at Luton is Easyjet, which is based in Luton and is a low budget, no frills, airline. In addition, many charter holiday flights to European destinations operate from Luton.

The other big employer is Vauxhall motors, whose fortunes keep changing from time to time, with a knock on effect on the work force. 

Whipsnade and Woburn safari parks are also reasonably close by. Shaw's corner, dedicated to the writer George Bernard Shaw is also close by.

site you might like to visit

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2960/index.html

Miscellaneous