Margaret Adkins
Creative Writing Portfolio
Biography
Margaret Adkins...
born in Kent - grew up
in Somerset & Greater London & Oxfordshire -
all adult years spent in the West Midlands -
I've never lived where my roots are deep - on the edge of the Western Pennines -
where generations before me originated - the place where I feel I come from...
A Memory: 'May Day 1913'
Oil on canvas by Millicent Needham
[my grandmother]
The windings of the road...
I would not have ended my nursing career if circumstances had been different.
I loved my role at Brook Birmingham as a sexual health nurse. However, within the reorganisation of the city's sexual health services, Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council commissioned an all-encompassing service, which condemned Birmingham Brook to permanent closure in 2015.
Unwilling to face a transfer, and become an employee of the newly commissioned service within the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, I began my BA course in Creative Writing & English Literature at Worcester University. Yes, I have missed my work, and my profession, and I have missed my colleagues, but I don't look back on my decision with any regret.
Work History:
2018 - 2019 Masters by Research (MRes).
Theatre & Performance.
University of Worcester.
2017 - 2018 Volunteer Writer. Route To The Hills Project. Malvern.
2017 Volunteer Events Manager. Ledbury Poetry Festival.
[Feb - July: Intern with Ledbury Poetry Festival]
2015 - 2018 BA (Hons) Creative Writing & English Literature.
University of Worcester.
2012 -2015: Sexual Health Nurse. Brook Birmingham.
2009 - 2012: GP Practice Nurse.
2000 - 2009: Independent School Nurse (Qualified to teach PSHE/SRE).
1996 - 2000: Bank Midwife.
1987 - 1996: Community Midwife
1984 - 1987: Staff Midwife
1983 - 1984: Midwifery Training, Women's Hospital, Birmingham.
1982 - 1983: Staff Nurse
1979 - 1982: Nurse Training, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.