Holmeleigh

A Memory of Horncastle.

I've just received an e-mail from Ray Cooke today 29/2/2016, i have been in touch with him before and we did remember more or less the same things and people in the home, so after his e-mail i decided to have another look at this site, it certainly jogged my memory, however after reading some other people's memories i started to wonder if i was in the same home or maybe the fact that i was happy there and knew no other life, who knows!

My experience was that me and my siblings were taken away from our mother and taken to Holmeleigh, i was born in 1949( as far as i can remember i was only a toddler because i would go to the nursery every day) i was first to be taken then Sandra, Janet and Michael came later(siblings) the home i was in was with Miss Holden who was the housemother at home 5 i stayed in the same home until i left in the summer of 64, Miss Holden was as good as they come, she treated all of her children like they were her own, we had good meals every day even though we would have had a school meal during the day, always a roast on sundays, in our home we were all happy.

Some of the people in home 5 i remember were, Dennis and Leslie Raines, Roy and Margaret Dixon, John Mullins (who tried to bully everyone and didn't like it if you stood up to him) Gordon?,Joe and Pat Gravel,Charlie Lawson,Walter Oliver, there must have been more but the grey matter is working overtime, don't get me wrong, Miss Holden was strict but fair, she was expected to run her cottage as Mr Vardy like it to be run, regimental! but Miss Holden didn't always agree with him.

I do know that every home wasn't the same as home 5, next to us was home 6, run by Miss Ranson (i think), her home was cold and austere and very strict compared to ours, but i have heard she got her just reward later in life (i hate to say that, but......) in the other homes my mates were, John Leake, Barry Tune and Graham Walker, others i remember are, Tim Farrow, Phil Mathers, Will Marsh, Alan Dobbs, The Atter's, one of my other mates had this knack of being able to talk like Donald Duck, but for the life of me i can't remember his name, i think it was Will ?, if anyone remembers, please let me know.

Like i said i enjoyed my life in Holmeleigh, but there was a down side, mainly due to my own fault, it seemed as though i was forever getting the cane from Mr Vardy and at school, John, Barry and myself always seemed to be lined up waiting to get the cane, but to be fair, we deserved it, Mr Vardy was a "strange bod" i remember having to see him one day, another housemother had reported me to him, he said "you again Stephen" i'd only had the cane from him the previous day LOL, he gave me the choice of the cane or washing his car, i didn't fancy the cane so soon so i opted for the car wash, this is the odd bit, when i'd done he gave me 3d for doing it and sent me on my way, so he did have a softer side to him, also he would allow me to read his books in his study at home, Matron always gave me tea and biscuits, Mr Vardy once made a comment to me, "you like to learn but you are always in trouble, why?" needless to say i couldn't give him an answer.

I think on the whole all the kids got on with each other, but as someone else said "we always looked out for each other" i've lost count as to how many rumbles we had with the "outsiders" far too many to remember. LOL.
How many children had a football pitch, cricket pitch, various swings and see-saws, a paddling pool, a snooker room and a large orchard at their disposal? we had all anyone could want, except our own parents! to this day i still think to survive Holmeleigh you had to have a certain state of mind, i do know a lot of children hated every minute of their time there, but maybe they had come from a previous family life, i knew nothing else so maybe i took it as it came and just got on with it, to be honest, i don't have any really bad memories of the place, but that could be my nature, i tend to see the positive side of life, but a legacy from Holmeleigh is that i stand up for myself and friends and won't be walked all over, if any of my old mates are still alive and kicking, please get in touch.

I think i ought to stop now because some people may have gone to sleep, LOL

Steve Gilbride, also known in the home as "Gilly"