The best model for educating nurses has always been a close link to practice. How close this link should be and how much time in practice, is still a question on which professional opinion varies. Just over 100 years ago, many nurses were trained without attending any formal lectures or schooling of any type. The number of years in training also varied widely, and all hospitals created and set their own standards of education. In the BJN3 July 1909 issue, it was reported that, ‘Slowly the large training schools are getting into line in regard to the preliminary training of probationers’ (new recruits). The first to establish a preliminary course was the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, followed by the Leicester Infirmary, Guy’s Hospital, the Royal Infirmary, Bristol, and St Thomas’s Hospital, London.