From Pycroft to Rycroft

There was a good attendance at our November meet, because Ian Goodrick was the speaker. The former Starcross GP entertained us hugely with his wry sense of humour. Some of us could also remember the 'good old days' (?) when a doctor would 'tell it to you like it was'.
We were made more appreciative of modern medicine: Ian's tragic Victorian tale of a Starcross woman who died from a post-natal infection could never happen again in the village, because modern obstetric practice has improved exponentially. The infection within this unfortunate new mother was not discovered until it was too late.  New mothers today are looked after and monitored carefully for any signs of problems; not simply left to enjoy their new baby in the hope that all will be well.

However, this isn't true of the rest of the world. Liz Moore was at the meeting. She lives in Starcross. Liz is the founder of Call the Midwife Tanzania, which is a charity working in Tanzania  with the Maasai. A Maasai woman achieves status when she has children. The more children she has, the higher her status. But one Maasai woman in seven would die in childbirth. In the villages where Liz's charity works, this horrific statistic has been reduced to almost zero.
Here's a link to the website:  Call the Midwife Tanzania
You can donate to Call the Midwife Tanzania on this link

We were able to look at many photographs, including our former GP, Dr Richard Rycroft, in his Second World War uniform. Below are some photographs of the construction of Starcross Surgery.

 Valerie Forrester also addressed the meeting. Like Starcross History,  Valerie is interested in oral records, but her purpose is for The Dawlish and Teignmouth Area Talking Newspaper., which is for blind and partially sighted people. The publication, Hear  and Now, is recorded weekly. The November 13th edition was the 3rd one. HERE'S the audio link.
 There aren't yet any subscribers in Starcross, so if you know anyone who would benefit from this, or if you would like to help with this worthwhile project, please get in touch.