id="u9f19a05b-44f8-5fa5-8ed6-1bb98370a25a">
HarperElement
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperElement 2015
FIRST EDITION
© Mary Hazard and Corinne Sweet 2015
Cover image © Mary Evans Picture Library/Roger Mayne (The person in this image is not in any way related to any of the people portrayed in this book)
Cover layout © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015
Mary Hazard and Corinne Sweet assert the moral
right to be identified as the authors of this work
A catalogue record of this book is
available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at
Source ISBN: 9780008118372
Ebook Edition © April 2015 ISBN: 9780008118389
Version: 2015-03-06
To my wonderful family, and children Anthony and Christopher, and to Jennifer, whom I will never forget (MH)
To Corinne and Albert Haynes, for being there, and being you (CS)
Contents
14: Private Rooms and Community Life
16: Reader, I Married Him … and Carried On Working for the Next Sixty Years …
If you like this, you’ll love …
I first met Mary Hazard at my local GP’s surgery, the Bounds Green Group Practice, when I moved into the area in 2000. She took my blood at the surgery one day, and I was immediately struck by her vibrant personality, her amazing manner and her fantastic sense of humour. It soon became very clear that Mary was an institution. Everyone at the surgery revered her, and when she took blood it was a painless experience, accompanied by laughter and goodwill. One day she told me a story about how the women come in and say to her, ‘Will it hurt?’ and she says, ‘Yes, it’s a little prick,’ and they say, ‘OK, go ahead,’ and they’re fine. And then the men come in, ask the same question, look brave and then, ‘Boom, they’re on the floor.’ Mary is a larger than life, wonderfully warm, amazing character, always smartly dressed and up for anything (clubbing in a tiara in Leicester Square), and the surgery was not the same at all once she left in November 2013.
While writing this book I visited Mary one night at home and found a crowd of people round her front door, anxiously peering in her bay window. ‘Where is she?’ a worried neighbour said. ‘Oh, she might be unconscious on the kitchen floor,’ said another. Then some colleagues were visiting from the GP’s surgery, and were worried: ‘Where’s Mary? We hope she’s all right.’ The friends and neighbours, colleagues and passers-by were so worried about losing Mary, they forced her front door open, only to hear her loud, commanding