Hornsea Convalescent Home

A Memory of Hornsea.

I have just been reading other people's memories of being incarcerated in Hornsea convalescent home, which as the name suggests is a place for a child who has been ill for some reason to be happy and relaxed away from pressures from parents or school. I was 9 years old, I had my appendix out a few weeks ago and was feeling very tired and I wouldn't eat anything. I kept falling over. My mother took me to the doctor's and he decided that the best thing was to send me to Hornsea, by the sea and get some healthy food and fresh air etc. I didn't want to go but I didn't have a choice. I don't remember some of the things that others have mentioned in this testimonial but I do remember the staircase and the dormitories, boys and girls and the nurses cruelty. I can remember crying every night and day and staring out of the window wondering if I could escape and find my way home. My parents were allowed to visit on Sunday afternoon briefly and I tried to tell them we were all being beaten and bullied by the staff, apparently I was imagining it all. The food sessions were very scary for me as I hadn't eaten properly for a while. There was a huge cupboard in one corner of the dining room packed with sweets. The nurse or matron would open the doors of the cupboard and say " if you eat your food you can choose from the cupboard, if you don't eat it then you get this.." holding up a huge stick and waving it at us. I have blocked much of my time there, I was there for nearly 2 months. It was a disgusting place for children. I was beaten every day for nothing. There was a nurse called Nurse xxxxxxx, whom I jokingly called Nurse fruit Pastilles. One evening in the dorm, she was behind me at the time and she beat me up. I still have nightmares about her and the things we went though. I do remember that we had to go out every day wearing awful bonnets on our heads and holding hands walking down to the seaside no matter what the weather was like. Heaven knows what the locals thought. But it was in the early 1960s, who would care? There was a slide I remember in the grounds but I don't remember me or anyone else using it. When I was about 15 years old, I picked up the nightly newspaper for my dad to read on my way home from school and the headlines were" HORNSEA CONVALESCENT HOME SHUT DOWN! " -finally, they couldn't get away from the fact that they were evil people that I told them about years before and I was telling the truth at 9 years old! I have been scarred for life by this place. I hope no other children have to suffer in 2024 and onwards that all of us went through in that disgusting place which was supposed to be a sanctuary for children, instead of which, it was a living nightmare. It has affected my life even up until now sadly. Now I understand it is a block of luxury flats. I hope the residents do not have visitors from another time, I wouldn't be surprised at all. I hope the rest of my "ex prisoners" are doing well now.