Mulcahy Conway Associates

The Midwife's Here! The True Story Of Britain's Longest Serving Midwife

Earlier this year Linda Fairley celebrated forty years as a midwife at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. No midwife has served as long at any hospital in the country.

The Midwife's Here! focuses on the first quarter of Linda's career, covering roughly the ten years between her starting as a nervous trainee nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary, through to the end of the 1970s, by which time Linda has become a highly respected and much loved figure in the maternity ward and local community. "It has been a life-affirming experience to recall and retell old memories" says Linda. "Some have made me shake with laughter and cringe withembarrassment while others have reopened painful wounds and brought tears to my eyes."

What shines through in Linda's memoir is her dedication to each and every patient, and her love for the job. During a lifetime's service to the NHS, she has never played politics or sought career advancement: "Delivering babies is what I do best and, come what may, it is my job to make every pregnant woman feel like the most important pregnant woman in the world."

Linda's stories are layered with period detail, evoking a bygone era of starched hats and immense pride in the meticulous uniform, respectful trainee nurses trembling at matron's booming instructions, and Linda negotiating the streets of Greater Manchester on her way to a delivery, travelling as fast as her Honda 50cc would take her. Her story charts the changing fashions and advice of the day, as preferences for routine enemas,bottle-feeding, home births and husbands in the delivery room come and go.

There is one thing that for Linda has never changed. Every safe new arrival still leaves her buzzing with excitement, a reminder of "how very powerful nature is, what an absolute miracle it is to give birth, and what a great privilege it is to be a midwife."