Volunteer spotlight: Patricia Walton
Volunteer spotlight: Patricia Walton
04 June 2017
The museum is home to the laboratory where Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic penicillin, one of the most revolutionary breakthroughs in medicine, a fitting place for Patricia to volunteer, given her own relationship with the drug.
“I was given penicillin when I was 3 because I had double pneumonia following measles and if it wasn’t for penicillin I would have died.”
When she left school, she went onto to work for the pharmaceutical company, Beecham, where she worked with the legal team responsible for patenting the drug. However, one of the side effects of being treated with it at such a young age meant she couldn’t stay there for long.
“I was there for about 3 months. There was a leak of penicillin from the factory into the offices and I nearly died because I was allergic to it. I collapsed and couldn’t hear or see, and the doctor said if I wasn’t better by the end of the week I’d have to go into the isolation hospital but of course once I was away from penicillin I improved, but I couldn’t work there.”
She left Beecham to work at the BBC. With no risk of penicillin leaks, her career there spanned 30 years, culminating in a role as a production coordinator in the news and current affairs department.
“At 50 years old I felt I was burned out. It was stressful and there was a lot of dashing around and filming. I didn’t want to go on to 24 hour rolling news where you go in at midnight and leave at noon the next day.”
Patricia took her pension but her time with the BBC didn’t end there and she joined their Volunteer Visiting Scheme, providing companionship to retired BBC staff.
“I visit them because a lot, especially the women, didn’t marry. They were married to the BBC, so they have no family in old age.”
Patricia then decided to volunteer with Imperial Health Charity after her husband sadly passed away.
“My husband was full of life. He went blind in the army and they taught him to be a shorthand typist in the war ministry but he didn’t want to do that for the rest of his life. He knew the bosses were disappointed when they’d call in for a secretary expecting a dolly bird and they got him! He went to the LSE to study and got himself 3 degrees because he knew he had to be better than sighted people. He was a senior lecturer in economics at Hammersmith College for all his working life and he was a great ballroom and Latin dancer and played the piano beautifully. He said if he hadn’t gone blind he wouldn’t have achieved as much as he did”.
“He had a very full life and I’m sure he wouldn’t want me sitting crying at home, he would want me to be doing something. My friend read the ad in the paper and I applied. They asked me if I wanted to work in the museum and I said ‘‘oh not penicillin I’m allergic to it!’”
Despite this initial concern, Patricia loves her time volunteering at the museum. “I look forward to Wednesdays. I love talking, and we have people from all over the world which is so interesting and you get a rapport with them”.
She says she feels fortunate to be able to help at the museum and believes the volunteers make a huge difference around the Trust’s hospitals.
“Long may it continue because they’re getting something out of it as well as giving.”
If you’d like to get involved or find out more about volunteering with the charity, visit our volunteering page.
