Mexborough and Swinton Times February 18, 1938

Wombwell Nurse in Spain
Miss E. Rarraclough at Vigo

An adventurous voyage to Spain has just been undertaken by a Wombwell lady, Miss Elsie Barraclough, eldest daughter of Mrs. Barraclough, of Kelvin Grove, Wombwell, and the late Mr. Edwin Barraclough, one time road foreman for the Wombwell U.D.C.

Miss Barraclough is a maternity nurse and has gone out to Vigo in Franco territory on the west coast of Spain to attend a Spanish lady who is married to an Englishman. Her stay in Spain will necessarily be a short one, but the visa from the Nationalist authorities gives her permission to remain in their territory for two months if necessary.

Miss Barraclough, who has many friends at Wombwell, was at one time a teacher in the Sunday School at Wombwell Parish Church and a member of the Wombwell Ladies’ Hockey Club. The first part of her twenty years’ experience of nursing was at the Leeds General Hospital, but for a long time she has been a member of the staff of a Leeds nursing home. She is a State registered nurse, and in connection with maternity work has been retained by many titled families. A good deal of her work has been abroad, and she has previously visited the Riviera, Malta and India.

Rough Voyage.

In a letter home she states that they had a rough voyage and were glad to be on land again. The passengers disembarked at Lisbon in Portugal, and before proceeding on the 300 miles coast journey to Vigo she stayed with an English clergyman and his wife. She described a visit to a charity concert with a Spanish lady who could not speak a word of English. Both enjoyed the performance thoroughly, but could only look at each other and smile.              All her letters are opened and censored, and she makes no references whatever to the conflict in Spain.