Sisters Of Charity Of Our Lady Of Mercy

A Memory of Pantasaph.

The above order of psychological sadists ran St Clare's orphanage where small children suffered dreadfully (see BBC Wales website 2009). The order also owned a private boarding and day school on West Hill in Dartford where I was sent at the age of four; Our Lady's High School was run like a young offenders' institution. One teenage boarder (Josephine), and a four-year-old day girl (Ann Smith) ran away. And, like many institutions where there is repression by those in authority, bullying by the inmates was rife. But the big boarders and day students only picked on the little kids, of course.

When Sister Immaculate bought me an ice cream after a doctor's visit, I wasn't allowed to eat it until I returned to the school. So I didn't enjoy this unimaginable treat because I was forced to eat it in front of a five-year-old boarder (Frances Tucker) to make her feel jealous. Poor Frances had no father, and constantly had nose bleeds. But Immaculate ignored children who were in pain or distress.

During my first term, I wet the bed once and was terrified of what the consequences might be. Sister Theresa took me to the bathroom where she inflicted a sexual assault while, at the end of that school day (when the day pupils had gone home), Sister Immaculate bandaged up my hands. Apparently, this was a form punishment and humiliation for bed-wetters from a much earlier period - most of the sisters where Victorian in age or attitude.

But if Dartford was a hateful place, St Clare's was obviously much worse. So my heart goes out to all the innocent victims of RC abuse in Wales. May their abusers rot in hell.