ArtMedia Magazine’s international team presents life lessons from a nurse who writes to inspire. Today we are publishing Aldona Groups’ unique author’s guide to perseverance and determination. She talks about herself and her journey as a nurse from patient care to publishing success.

Aldona Grupas (born 1960-04-27)
Time rushes faster than us. I haven’t said anything new, just what we all know already.
I was born in Riga (Latvia) into a Lithuanian family. We moved to Lithuania in 1976. In 2005 I moved to the United Kingdom.
I graduated from Klaipėda J. Kupčinskas Medical School in 1979. In the same year I got a job as a nurse. Later, from 2001 to 2005, I studied law at the Riga Law University.

In 2005, my husband and I moved to the United Kingdom and settled in Wolverhampton. I immediately got a job as a nurse in a nursing home. I set up a helpline for the Lithuanian community in the town, and I also managed the community for 10 years. In 2010, I set up the Eastern European Community Charity.

In 2012 I submitted a project to the UK Heritage Foundation. The aim of the project is to write and publish a book about the three generations of the Lithuanian community that moved to the UK after the Second World War, and their development to the present day. The Heritage Lottery Fund has kindly agreed to support this project. Thus was born my first book, «The Lithuanian Community of Central England after World War II». In the book, I talked about the founding of the Lithuanian community, the everyday life and celebrations of Lithuanians, and the promotion of Lithuanian identity. The data I have collected shows a large Lithuanian community between 1947 and 2012, how life was lived, where people gathered and talked, played and sang, danced and played sports. Real people’s stories are packed into the pages of this book.

I cannot fail to mention that I was encouraged to write this book by Genutė Ivanauskienė, a long-standing member of the DBLS Wolverhampton Chapter, and the former head of the cultural department of the Wolverhampton Lithuanian community. Nine years later, I published the book in English, improved by Editor David Stanford, under the title «West Midlands HO!» My work is the basis for the London Film Academy’s short documentary «Nine Seas Away» editor Timur Akhmedjanov.

Three years after my first book was published, friends started asking me when I was going to write another book. For a long time, I had been thinking about writing a book about nursing in the UK and the importance of nursing. I know the job well, I’ve met some great people and I’ve heard lots of stories.

I wanted to tell the noble and important job of being a nurse, but I didn’t dare, I didn’t trust myself. I remember at the seminar «Think Outcome. Thinking into Result. Bob Proctor», the lecturer asked the audience the question — «What is your dream?» Without thinking, I confessed my dream — to write a book about the nursing profession. I was asked: «What is stopping you?» I timidly answered: «Who will read my book?» The group just laughed at me, and the lecturer Galina Hartshorn said firmly: «What business is it of yours who reads it? Maybe thousands of people are waiting for this book.» Her words were a great incentive to write. And I even wrote two books about my work.

The aim of these books is to tell life stories, to change the way you look at life, to see yourself from the outside. It’s about my job search in England, my professional life, my daily life, my holidays. It’s about how this professional path is more than just a job for many of us. Living abroad, I realised that being a nurse has truly become my life , and the people I work with and help are my second family.

In 2020, I set up the Albion Art Club and applied to UK Heritage again. This time I submitted a project to publish a book about Lithuanian writers who have lived and still live in the UK. For the second time, the UK Heritage Foundation supported me and funded the publication of A History of Lithuanian Writers in the United Kingdom. To launch the book, I organised a number of online literary conversations via Zoom (you can watch the video on my YouTube channel — https://www.youtube.com/c/AldonaGrupasLithuanian).

Affiliations: I am a member of the Eurasian Creative Guild (London), a member of the UK Society of Authors, and a member of the Lithuanian Creative Expression Association «Menų sodas» (Creative gardens).
I have published 7 books since 2011:
«The Lithuanian Community of Central England after World War II» (2011);
«Nurse, give me a pill for death…» (2017);
«It’s hard to be an angel.» (2020 m.);
«West Midlands HO!» (2021 m.);
«The Way of the Heart» (2021);
«A History of Lithuanian Writers in the United Kingdom (2022).
«Nurse stories» (2023)

When I started writing books, I started asking myself where it came from. Why did I become interested in writing? Why do I want to write so much? The first answer came from something inside me: I want to talk to people, to share my own and others’ experiences. Another reason is my family heritage.
In my family, since the 18th century, there have been teachers, artists, writers, a translator, an editor, a distinguished literary figure. I learned all this from the family album ‘The Unfinished Saga. Nijolė Nicole Marytė Šerniūtė — Rainey» .

In conclusion, I would like to share the words of my aunt, Nijolė Nicole Marytė Šerniūtė-Rainey: «I wrote ‘The Word of the End’ and I had doubts. There is no ending, no such word, as long as my father’s hat is still hanging on the brim, as long as I can see my mother’s green dress so clearly. I can still hear my aunt’s cheerful laughter , I can still read my little cousin’s words of hope: «What man does not understand is nothing to God.» And like raindrops, I collect the paintings scattered in the far reaches of the world, hanging them on my «wall», feeling the inexpressible joy of communication, as if I were approaching the primordial presence in one, or like a fog melting in all. There is no end.»

“Nurse stories” is a book that explores the challenges, difficulties and joys of working as a nurse. The author tells her story with incredible honesty, since her life in Lithuania and her struggles there, to her life as a nurse in England.

The author’s purpose is to help others, through revealing her experiences, take care of their loved ones and overcome difficult moments.

This practical book will try to let the reader see the world through the eyes of a nurse and understand the motivation that transform a profession into a profound vocation.
Books have been and remain an important source of spiritual and cultural Human development.

Artistic text is a complex phenomenon: it is both a means of communication, and a way to store and transmit information, a reflection of psychological life, human, a product of a certain historical era and reflection national culture and traditions. The image of a doctor is present on a large number of pages.

Works of classical and modern literature, which gives us the right to argue: the profession of a doctor at all times has been in demand in the society. Interest in this profession is due to the fact that medicine and literature grow from one root: intense interest and sympathy for man and his fate.

Mailing Address: Aldona Grupas
98 Deyncourt Rd. Wolverhampton WV10 0SY West Midlands UK
aldonagr@gmail.com +447425422266
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@AldonaGrupasLithuanian

Europe Books:
Dear Aldona,
Your book is a very unique autobiography, written by a talented and experienced and confident writer.
Europe Books publishes around 5% of the books sent to us. Yours stood out from the crowd.
Steven Colatrella

Author’s Work: Digital Copies of the author’s books, articles, essays, or any other written works that will be discussed or featured in the article.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Midlands-HO-Community-Lithuanian-ebook/dp/B08R958RC1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Aldona-Grupas/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AAldona+Grupas

Previous Interviews or Features: Links or copies of any previous interviews or features about the author, which can help the magazine avoid repetitive content and provide a fresh perspective.

I have many articles but in Lithuanian language in Lithuanian media.

https://ve.lt/zymos/aldona-grupas

https://www.tv3.lt/naujiena/gyvenimas/i-darba-del-amziaus-nepriimta-lietuve-irode-ka-gali-isgirdau-kad-esu-per-sena-n1091446

https://www.delfi.lt/temos/aldona-grupas

EN
Lithuanian refugees in Britain’s midlands – story of post-war migration — LRT
EURASIANIASM — FROM LITHUANIA TO LONDON — OCA MAGAZINE

https://londonbusinessmagazine.com/inner-child-leading-business-women-advise-their-younger-selves/

https://globalwomanmagazine.com/4-women-take-on-creativity-in-a-world-of-technology/

https://thebusinesswoman.today/aldona-grupas-educating-europe-on-the-history-of-nursing/

https://www.vorakamag.com/post/gripping-narratives-of-nursing-aldona-grupas-nurse-stories-revealed

‘Nurse stories’