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Coles On 24 December 2003, James
Coles, MRPharmS, of 41 Plaistow Grove, Bromley BR1 3PB. Mr Coles registered
in 1945 (see Tribute).
Horrell In December 2003, Elisabeth
Mary Horrell, MRPharmS, of Lower Pengelly, Linkinhorne, Callington, Cornwall
PL17 8QP. Mrs Horrell registered
in 1989 (see Tribute).
Macdonald In December 2003, Ian Macdonald, of “Strathview”,
Frilford, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX13 5NY. Mr Macdonald registered in
1936 and retired from the register in 1999 (see Tribute).
Powell On 22 November 2003, Edward James Powell, of “Stretford”,
Ranelagh Street, Hereford HR4 0DT. Mr Powell registered in 1932 and retired
from the register in 1999 (see Tribute).
Thomas Recently, Edward Rhys Thomas, MRPharmS, of Glenbrook Estate, Glenboi,
Mountain Ash, Mid Glamorgan CF45 3DH. Mr Thomas registered in 1945.
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Tribute
Coles In a tribute to the late James
Coles, KEITH STEAD writes:
I first
met Jim when I joined St Thomas’ Hospital pharmacy department in
1965. He was then senior pharmacist in charge of the sterile products
section.
Jim was born in Bromley and lived there all his life. He served an apprenticeship
with Boots in Bromley and after qualifying he was called up for his deferred
service in the Royal Air Force in London and then at a hospital in Haifa, Israel.
On demobilisation he joined the pharmacy at St Thomas’ Hospital and its
pension scheme (prior to the NHS). Its benefits were better than the NHS scheme
and he stayed with it. It had unforeseen consequences in the early 1970s with
the Noel Hall report enhancing and extending the role of the hospital pharmacist.
But Jim felt unable to apply for better jobs that were advertised at the time.
Jim, like many others in the NHS, was dismayed at the poor status and financial
rewards for pharmacy but he set out to make his sterile products section a model
one. He was highly knowledgeable about stills autoclaves, ampoule machines, etc,
and had a passionate interest in electronics. He collaborated with one of the
pathology professors to install a ring main from the pharmacy still to supply
the laboratories with distilled water. And he introduced an automatic filling
and capping line for bottles of water, saline and dextrose.
Jim liked to teach his technical skills to students and young pharmacists. But
if they did not grasp it he was short tempered and they would remember that.
After the Noel Hall reorganisation, Jim became a principal pharmacist and titular
district pharmaceutical officer. In the meantime he left the sterile products
section and became my deputy.
During the 1970s, with a couple of engineering colleagues, he devised a machine
that was able to bring treatments cards before a television camera, scan them
and show the image on a monitor in the pharmacy, without the card leaving the
ward. The medicine could be dispensed and the card annotated on a later visit.
The scheme was piloted successfully on a number of wards but had to be abandoned
when treatment cards were replaced by combined treatment and administration sheets
and stickers. It was an innovative use of television at the time and a spare
camera and monitor was useful for making training films.
At the end of the 1970s Jim had a stroke and never returned to work. He made
a marvellous recovery for which his devoted wife, Pearl, and his physician must
be praised. He decided to take early retirement and continued to enjoy family
life and the community to which he had contributed. His wife who had looked after
him so devotedly (they were childhood sweethearts), died six months ago and Jim
had to be admitted to a nursing home.
My sympathy goes out to his son and daughter and his grandchildren.
Horrell In a tribute to
the late Elisabeth
Mary Horrell, ANNE JONES (writing on behalf of friends and colleagues
at Boots The Chemists in Cornwall and Devon) writes:
It was with great
shock and
sadness that we learnt of Elisabeth’s unexpected and untimely death.
Elisabeth was liked and respected by her colleagues and patients alike.
She had lots of time for everyone and her attention to detail and immense
patience were well known and widely appreciated. Always one to rise to
an academic challenge, Elisabeth readily used her outstanding intellect
and experience to enlighten others in an energetic and enthusiastic manner.
In her private life, Elisabeth’s love of nature, gardening and
the outdoors inspired many and will continue to do so. Elisabeth will
be greatly missed.
Macdonald In
a tribute to the late Ian
Macdonald, DAVID
MORGAN writes:
Ian Macdonald, who registered in 1936, has died aged 94,
having lived and worked in Oxford from 1945 until his retirement. In
1996 he completed 60 years on the Register.
I have known and respected Ian, both as a pharmacist and as a pharmaceutical
pioneer in the Oxford area, since my own entry to the Register in 1961, and
it is, in part, his example that encouraged me to become interested in Royal
Pharmaceutical Society and branch affairs over many years.
Having received his education at Perth Academy, he trained at the Dundee Technical
College and, after a brief period in community pharmacy, took the unusual step
(in 1940) of becoming involved in the new science of market research and surveillance.
At that time commercial organisations became interested in the distribution
and marketing of medicines and related merchandise, counter sales turnover
and the value of NHS business in pharmacies. He joined Neilsen Market Research
Organisation (Food and Drug Index), rising to become general field manager
and a director of the company.
Ian was well known to many pharmacists as a speaker at branch meetings across
the country on the importance of market research to pharmacy and pharmacists,
informing pharmacists of changes, trends and future prospects for pharmacy.
He retained his close association with local pharmacy, becoming branch chairman
of the Oxfordshire branch in 1956. He always liked to encourage young pharmacists
to take an interest in the profession and, as such, initiated the branch cheese
and wine meeting, which his company sponsored for many years even after his
retirement from Neilsen’s. The focus of the evening was to encourage
young pharmacists and preregistration trainees in the area to meet branch officers
and other pharmacists in a social atmosphere, usually incorporating a short
session of topical interest within the profession.
After retirement Ian retained his pharmaceutical connections, acting as an
occasional locum. I was privileged to retain contact with him, as his pharmacist,
for several years allowing me to return, in some measure, the debt of gratitude
I owed.
I am happy to note, in lasting tribute to Ian’s foresight, that the branch
has revived the tradition of an initial cheese and wine meeting to commence
the branch programme.
Pharmacists both locally and nationally owe a debt of gratitude to this far-sighted
member of our profession.
Murray In a tribute to the late Truda
Newman Murray (PJ, 21 February,
p231), BILL JACKSON writes:
Truda Murray will be sadly missed by both
her family and friends.
In spite of long-standing heart problems she remained cheerful and
professionally active. In recent years she and her husband Clive travelled
to many places
that they had wished to visit, including Machu Pichu in Peru and the Great
Wall of China. They were on a visit to Vienna to celebrate Clive's 70th birthday
when she was taken ill and admitted to hospital where she died.
She was a member of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy and had
a considerable knowledge of pharmaceutical artefacts.
She was also a superb cook and excellent hostess.
My wife and I will miss her company and lively conversation.
Powell In a tribute
to the late Edward
James Powell,
DAVID FERGUSON AND BOB GARDINER, Chave & Jackson Ltd, write:
Eddie
Powell was born in Hereford in 1908, lived through the reign of five
monarchs and witnessed the invention of almost every item which we now
accept as part of our daily lives. At the age of 10 he had felt the impact
of the deaths of so many in the 1914–18 war that thereafter he
was always a man of peace. He became an apprentice at the pharmacy of
Chave & Jackson Ltd in 1924; 60 years later he retired, having been
with the company all his working life. After his apprenticeship he obtained
his MPS at the Liverpool School of Pharmacy and returned to manage the
dispensary and the considerable manufacturing side of the business, later
becoming a director of this large pharmacy, which never employed fewer
than three full-time pharmacists.
With the advent of penicillin, Eddie installed a small laboratory where,
under one of the first Therapeutic Substances Act licences, he was able
to dispense
extemporaneous penicillin preparations. In 1977 he planned and oversaw the
installation of an IBM “golfball” typewriter with an external punch-card
memory pack; it was in fact, the precursor of the dispensary computer, and
he was a co-author of the paper that appeared in The Pharmaceutical Journal
in 1978 describing this innovation.
Life in pharmacy in the 1930s and 1940s was far removed from the present day.
Eddie and his co-director Norman Gardiner worked together for 60 years yet
one would never have addressed the other nor any staff member by their first
names. Throughout most of Eddie Powell’s working life the pharmacy closed
for lunch; he would walk home, never having any desire to drive, returning
after lunch to provide dispensing services until 8pm. Caretakers lived in the
flat over the business and if an urgent prescription arrived at any time during
the night, one of the pharmacists would turn up to provide the service. Back
then, the pharmacists of Chave & Jackson Ltd opened their Broad Street
premises in Hereford 365 days of the year with a dispensing service twice a
day on Sundays and Bank holidays and this continued for the whole of the 60
years for which Eddie Powell served the company.
Thank you, Eddie, for passing on the disciplines of a different era. So many
have reason to thank you for your help and advice over the years. The new era
of pharmacist consultation is one that would be far from foreign to you and
your colleagues. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal