My Days At The Ormerod Home

A Memory of Lytham.

I believe I went to the Ormerod Home, at the age of about eight or nine, as a result of the Local Authority (Blackpool) having a number of reserved places at this establishment. Homes such as this were built along the sand dunes near Blackpool in order to provide a healthy environment, in which youngsters from the north west could spend their holidays well away from the smoke and grime of the nearby Lancashire cottons towns. In my case, I was the youngest of four children whose father had died just some 5 years earlier. This meant my mother was out working both day and night to make ends meet. I suppose in these days you could say that I was sent for a period of respite. The period seem to last for about 3 to 4 months and stretched over the Christmas period. I remember this well as I had two parts in the Christmas plays the home put on. The first was as John the Baptist in the nativity play and then later, as one of Cindrella's horses in the panto. The days were spent either going for long walks on the beach or playing in the huge indoor playroom. Another vivid memory of Christmas was that we had Christmas pud straight after Christmas lunch and it was far too rich for some of us, so much so that some of us had the runs, better known as the trotts and had to have a second bath that night if you follow my drift. The staff mainly consisted of Anglican Nuns, fron an Order known as The Sisters of The Church and the regular Sunday services in the home's own chapel were responsible for my early grounding in the Christian faith which helped later on. I also remember the Nuns were quite firm as far as discipline went. However, I'm glad to report that I have no lasting nightmares to worry about these days at least. All in all a good safe opportunity to stand on my own feet at least.