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THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Edith Muriel Powell, nurse, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the audience at the BBC Television Theatre.

Muriel, who was born in Stourport, Worcestershire and trained at the General Hospital, Birmingham, joined the Territorial Nursing Service in April 1915. After dedicating four years to looking after wounded soldiers from the battlefields of France during the First World War, she joined the County Hospital in York as a nursing sister. She later volunteered to help the victims of the Russian Revolution, opening a hospital for orphaned children in Balaclava Bay.

Poor health forced Muriel to return to England, and in 1926 she became the Matron of the Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital at Tide Mills, East Sussex, a school for disabled boys. In 1933 she founded the Searchlight Trust, which continued the work of Chailey Heritage by providing older disabled boys with workshops to teach them the skills they needed to contribute to their own welfare and living in an attempt to prepare them for adulthood.

programme details...

• Edition No: 42
• Subject No: 42
• Broadcast live: Mon 18 Nov 1957
• Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
• Venue: BBC Television Theatre
• Series: 3
• Edition: 8

on the guest list...

• Arthur Gisby
• Mary Crocker
• Cdr T C Ouchterlony
• Ludmilla Purvis
• Emily Price
• Dennis Shirley
• Freda Bannister
• Bernard Spanswick
• Mabel Harriott
• Elizabeth Allen
• Sister Pat Gibbins
• Grace - sister
• Courtney - sister
• Kathleen - sister
• Ethel - sister
• Robert - brother
Filmed tributes:
• Hazel Bishop - niece
• Anthony Kimmins

related appearance...

• Anthony Kimmins - Mar 1962

production team...

• Researchers: George Bruce, Michael Friend, Ronald Vivian
• Writer: Ken Smith
• Director: unknown
• Producer: T Leslie Jackson

• names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

A Medical Life

examining the medical profession

Anthony Kimmins

Edith Powell with her guests on This Is Your Life

The Birmingham Post and Gazette 19 November 1957

LAST NIGHT

For once, the script team of This Is Your Life on BBC television found a real personality to honour. A Worcester-born woman, Miss Edith Muriel Powell has had a life full of incident and work for the disabled since she was trained as a nurse at the General Hospital, Birmingham. One of her associates recalled the railway accident between Walsall and Birmingham in 1913, and there were stories of her work at a children's orphanage in the Crimea. She is now matron of the Searchlight Cripples Workshop at Newhaven, which she herself founded.

---

Sheerness Times Guardian 22 November 1957

COBBLER'S TRIBUTE IN TV PROGRAMME

SHEERNESS boot repairer Arthur Gisby provided a poignant opening to the BBC's television programme This Is Your Life on Monday night.

After Eamonn Andrews had told a surprised Miss Muriel Powell, who was sitting in the audience, that this was to be HER life, the spotlight switched to the stage.

Mr Gisby walked through the curtains and paid a sincere tribute to the last who had taught him there was "no such word as can't."

As Miss Powell was being led to the stage, she said, "That was one of my boys." She was in fact matron of a disabled children's school which Mr Gisby attended as a youngster.

Mr Gisby told "Times Guardian" this week how he first came to meet Miss Powell, now matron of the "Searchlight Workshops" for handicapped persons.

Son of the late Mr and Mrs W. A. Gisby he was born in Sheerness, the youngest of a family of four.

At the age of 18 months, he became a polio victim and the disease left him a cripple. He was unable to attend an ordinary day school like his brother and sisters. Instead a place was found for him at a seaside hospital - Tidemills near Newhaven, of which Miss Powell was then matron.

"I was away from home and beyond the influence of my parents. If anyone moulded my early life, it was Miss Powell."

Apart from giving a sound general education, Tidemills and its associated school, Chailey (to which the children progressed as they grew older) also taught its pupils a trade to ensure their security when they left school.

Arthur Gisby was taught not only how to repair shoes, but to make them. He served the equivalent of an apprenticeship and learned the trade from beginning to end. Throughout he and his fellow pupils were encouraged by Miss Powell who insisted that there was a place in society for each of them, in spite of their disability.

His childhood friends will recall that Arthur became the bright boy of the school. When royalty visited Chailey to open an extension or to note progress it was young Gisby who was chosen to give the speeches. The late Queen Mary received a leather case which he had made. When the school broadcast a religious service, he was one of the speakers.

But at 17, Arthur had to make the move to the outside world and earn a living. He did so most successfully, working at Bata's shoe shop in Sittingbourne for 10 years.

However, he preferred the idea of being his own boss and he eventually moved into partnership in Canterbury.

In 1951 he returned to his home town to start the repair business he now has in Sheerness High-street. With him came his wife and lively daughter Sally Ann, now six. His son, Paul, was born three years ago.

His business has thrived gradually, until now, more than ever he can look back with gratitude to Miss Powell for the help and encouragement she gave him.

He was contacted by the B.B.C. about the broadcast only last Tuesday. Eager to play a part in any tribute to Miss Powell, he agreed to appear.

"It was a complete surprise to her; she was overcome," said Mr Gisby. He presented her with a bouquet after the programme.

---

Nottingham Evening News 22 November 1957

THIS IS YOUR LIFE returned to the path of duty from which it should never depart by recounting the story of a woman who has devoted a lifetime to humanitarian work. As it saluted Edith Muriel Powell, MBE, so should we and all the others like her. If This Is Your Life keeps its sights as high as this all will be well.

---

The Arbroath Guide 23 November 1957

Commander T C A H Ouchterlony, The Guynd, appeared on TV screens on Monday night in the series This Is Your Life. He travelled to London to pay tribute to Miss Edith Muriel Powell, whose work for crippled people and as the founder of the Searchlight Institute for Criplles brought her into the limelight in the popular TV feature. The Commander briefly described how he brought her home from a Russian port. It was left to Eamonn Andrews to disclose that to do so he sailed his ship through a minefield. The Commander is well known for his work for merchant seamen.