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Thread: The Childrens Homes

  1. #1
    paddy Paddy's Avatar
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    Default The Childrens Homes

    South Liverpool was home to most of the children?s homes in Liverpool Strawberry Field immortalized by the Beatles was just one. I was at New Heys an assessment centre that worked on the principle of giving kids space and letting kids find their own feet, it was a sixties experiment and a very happy experience for kids who had been brutalized in the care system. New Heys was on Allerton Road . I was also at Livingstone Drive by Sefton Park and Sydney House on Linnet Lane, there was Park field on Parkfield road. Westfield on Greenbank Drive Fern Lea in Woolton and a few more places. All these establishments where large houses and some kids spent long periods at them. The people who survived the Liverpool care system have a right to have a history as it is all part and parcel of Liverpool life. Being brought up in children?s homes is nothing to be ashamed of and quite a lot of kids moved on to better things.
    Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
    Time held me green and dying
    Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

    Dylan Thomas

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    Re-member Ged's Avatar
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    Default

    Take a gander through here Paddy.

    http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...hildrens+homes


    .
    www.inacityliving.piczo.com/

    Updated weekly with old and new pics.

  3. #3
    paddy Paddy's Avatar
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    Default Childrens Homes

    I looked through those posts Ged the children?s admission unit on Acrefield road was for taking in kids who had come into care. Some kids would return to their families after very short periods others would be filtered through into the system. I went there from Bootle as I had become hostile to the foster parents in Bootle as I thought they were squandering money that was for keeping us. As in going on benders. My first home was Nazareth house Crosby run by nuns I went there when I was ten months old till I was nine and they sent me to Bootle. That was hard for me as I had previously only known the convent up until then. However I adapted. I was head butted and kicked in the balls a few times so I learn?t to fight back and stand up for myself. I wasn?t a little altar boy anymore and I had to react. Then when you start fighting back the label wild is applied.
    Arriving in South Liverpool was the best thing for me it wasn?t all roses and I was very badly treated at Menlove Avenue while waiting to go to New Heys. New Heys was fantastic they had ladders in the trees and swings and you could play football and go out to the park unsupervised it was a very happy place and all the kids had a room of their own. Most of the homes in south Liverpool were okay except for Westfield the guy who run that one was eventually prosecuted. Parkfield was progressive and most of the kids were happy. There was a convent in Woolton that had a bad name but I never went there so I cannot comment. I read your post and your right, people should be able to talk about their upbringing freely. With the Catholic church acting as they are up until nine I have no childhood no photographs nothing you are never asked about or invited to reunions. Effectively your childhood does not exist it is taboo because it is a source of embarrassment for them. I never see pictures or read about the history of the place that was and still is the largest institution in Liverpool. When we were kids we marched every were in two?s forming a line quite long. If we went to the pictures or school or the shops. We had the nickname the Nazis because we came from Nazareth house that was abbreviated to Nazi house. The regime inside was very harsh on the kids. You went to church every single day first thing in the morning. Sundays you just got religion all day. Well what kind of a childhood is that? And I know it upsets people but it is the truth that some Nuns were very cruel to the Children. Still it is something they will not and won?t admit and so the victims remained emotionally in limbo.
    Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
    Time held me green and dying
    Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

    Dylan Thomas

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    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
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    Hi Paddy

    Thanks for posting your memories of being brought up in childrens' homes. I appreciate it. It makes those of us who lived with their parents realise how lucky we were, even though we didn't appreciate it at the time. You are right that this history should not be hidden, and those who grew up in childrens' homes should not be ashamed.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
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    paddy Paddy's Avatar
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    Default Buddies

    Well Chris here?s a perspective on kids. Other kids see you when your underprivileged and they don?t have the considerations of adults. One of the hard parts about being in St Peter and Paul?s Crosby was when you came out of School parents would collect their children in cars and they all seemed so happy. A boy in my class asked if I could come to his house and play with him for an hour after School, they allowed it and I would go to his house and watch telly. I had never seen tomato sauce and some of the stuff out of the chippie in Crosby, we spent the day together at half term and I got treated to a meal from the chippie. We only got one hours telly at night in the convent and they kept a blanket on top of the telly in case any kissing occurred, so they could cover the screen. I remember watching last of the Mohicans and I was fascinated. So kids do have a world of their own that they are inclined to share. Another memory is of a painter who was painting the convent he made friends with me and asked the nuns could he take me out. He gave me a crossbar ride through Crosby on his bike I felt safe and really happy and always looked forward to seeing him. So the world does penetrate these enclosed withdrawn lifestyles, and the sun did shine in from time to time.
    Last edited by Paddy; 04-29-2009 at 06:13 PM.
    Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
    Time held me green and dying
    Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

    Dylan Thomas

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    Senior Member Sirob's Avatar
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    Default Aymestrey Court

    This special school was on Acrefield Road, near Gateacre Brow. Since it was mentioned, I post 2 pics of it in 1962 and 2 during the big freeze in 1963. there are more, if anyone is interested.
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    You take them for granted - until one day they're gone!

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    Senior Member wsteve55's Avatar
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    Great pic's there Sirob, especially the sledging one!

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    paddy Paddy's Avatar
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    Default Adams family dwellings

    Yes they had quite a few places in the Woolton area. The properties were mostly old merchant mansion houses left to the authorities. Very few children?s homes were purpose built.Very spacious and full of reminders of a bygone era. The main hose of the Admission unit was an old mansion. Livingstone drive was also a very large house just by Sefton Park. New heys was almost gothic in appearance.
    Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
    Time held me green and dying
    Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

    Dylan Thomas

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    Senior Member kevin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
    Well Chris here?s a perspective on kids. Other kids see you when your underprivileged and they don?t have the considerations of adults. One of the hard parts about being in St Peter and Paul?s Crosby was when you came out of School parents would collect their children in cars and they all seemed so happy. A boy in my class asked if I could come to his house and play with him for an hour after School, they allowed it and I would go to his house and watch telly. I had never seen tomato sauce and some of the stuff out of the chippie in Crosby, we spent the day together at half term and I got treated to a meal from the chippie. We only got one hours telly at night in the convent and they kept a blanket on top of the telly in case any kissing occurred, so they could cover the screen. I remember watching last of the Mohicans and I was fascinated. So kids do have a world of their own that they are inclined to share. Another memory is of a painter who was painting the convent he made friends with me and asked the nuns could he take me out. He gave me a crossbar ride through Crosby on his bike I felt safe and really happy and always looked forward to seeing him. So the world does penetrate these enclosed withdrawn lifestyles, and the sun did shine in from time to time.
    Paddy,
    I think I've mentioned it before but several of my school classmates were at New Heyes and I was a frequent visitor there (it was close to where I lived off Heath Road). A few of us would go up there and we always got on well with the kids at the home. Possibly because it seemed a happy place so the kids there were fairly well adjusted and made friends easily.

    Also had classmates from other homes but they seemed very isolated and didn't really want to mix. Breaks my heart to now understand why those kids might have been like that and wish I'd understood better at the time.

  10. #10
    Senior Member wsteve55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
    Yes they had quite a few places in the Woolton area. The properties were mostly old merchant mansion houses left to the authorities. Very few children?s homes were purpose built.Very spacious and full of reminders of a bygone era. The main hose of the Admission unit was an old mansion. Livingstone drive was also a very large house just by Sefton Park. New heys was almost gothic in appearance.
    I remember the admission unit,quite well,and actually enjoyed staying there,though it was only for a month,or so!

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    paddy Paddy's Avatar
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    Default Pinkerton

    Yes Kevin New Heys was very relaxed it was overseen by a child psychologist called Dr Pinkerton the kids were encouraged to mix with other kids I have always had mates around Allerton. The best part about the place was that the emphasis was on what the kids wanted to do. Unfortunately as in most situations some of the carers did not share the values of Dr Pinkerton. I remember lads coming up to hang around with us in the grounds we had tree huts and swings and a five a side pitch. If you were late for tea they would hold it back for you and the aura of an institution did not exist. I remember a lot of the children who were there I sometimes wonder what happened to them. I know some got successful placements Dr Pinkerton and Mr. Evans who run the place were good men the kids loved them. He told me I very clever, previous to that the label was hard faced.
    Last edited by Paddy; 05-03-2009 at 08:09 PM.
    Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
    Time held me green and dying
    Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

    Dylan Thomas

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    paddy Paddy's Avatar
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    Default Hello Goodbye

    Yeah the admission unit was always temp. They spent most of their time looking for us

    Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
    Time held me green and dying
    Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

    Dylan Thomas

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    Senior Member wsteve55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
    Yeah the admission unit was always temp. They spent most of their time looking for us

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    Senior Member phredd's Avatar
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    Sirob.

    Great pics there.
    The First one shows the front of what was Amystery Court Special School.
    I was an inmate there in the mid 1950s. I was there for the Queens Coronation. Watched it on the old B&W telly in the dinning room.
    The second pic is of the Lawn and playground of the same school taken from what was the dinning room by the looks of it.

    Since the time I left, the Classrooms down the left side of the lawn have changed somewhat. There were two classrooms in the same building with the entrance in the middle.
    In the backgrond of the playground there were three green houses, an orchard and land used for growing veg for use in the home.
    At the very bottom of the grounds was a Pig Sty and Hen Run for fresh eggs.

    In the 50s it was a Boys only school but later on, so I am informed, it became a girls school.

    Lots of good times there. Isle of Man for two weeks every year at Port Erin/Port StMary (four roads) and other years it was to Kirch Micheal.

    Memories of long ago in the days when we had nothing but we had plenty of fun.
    Phredd
    In the days when we had nothing we had fun.
    If tomorrow starts without me, remember I was here.

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    Senior Member Sirob's Avatar
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    Default Aymestry Court

    yes, Phredd, as an ex inmate myself, I can vouch for how children were treated, without resorting to the physical punishments that were the norm in ordinary schools. In 1962, they had a photographic club, so I learned to devolop and print. It was only a Brownie 127, but I was able to make a photographic record of the time spent there. The negatives, some unprinted, have remained with me, unseen, until this thread. I have scanned and enhanced them, but they are decomposing. I will post them, as I have never seen any pictures of life inside!
    these are from 1962
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    You take them for granted - until one day they're gone!

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