Oakbank 1954 55
A Memory of Seal.
Strange to read all the memories of Oakbank in the 50s which are so similar to mine! I remember being taken there by my mum and gran in August 1954, excited at the 40-mile bus journey but then downcast at realising I would not be on the journey back. Then there was the handover in a big lobby to the headmistress Miss Hardy and my great distress at being taken upstairs - God knows what it was like for my mum and gran. I was kept in bed in isolation for several days in quarantine, the only consolation being a beautiful view of parkland and my 2 teddy bears. When they gave a box of Smarties that my mother had left for me it just made me howl!
Being released from solitary confinement into normal prison life was a relief and school proved a welcome haven. Our teacher Miss Ferguson was firm but kindly and I learnt to read quitequickly (this had been the problem - not learning because of absence with asthma and eczema - I sent a note home saying 'Deer mumy and dady i hop yoo are hapy and well" with a golden autumn leaf taped in).
But the accommodation regime was stern, and I well remember the night time checks that you were asleep (punished if not) and one of those who bathed us saying "Woe betide the child I find...." I didn't know what 'Woe betide' meant but I knew it wasn't good. Like others I remember with a shudder the infamous Nurse Spice, and I have always thought she had a partner in crime called Nurse Spicer, though perhaps I was confused and it was just the same woman. I thought that one wore a green uniform and the other blue. The regime was strict, loveless and occasionally arbitrary rather than abusive, and I coped by being emotionally anaesthetised. This was a drawback with parental visits, because while they started with me being reserved gradually I would 'thaw out' (eg over tea and cakes in Sevenoaks) and then feel all the emotional pain again after the visit.
I have memories of a number of individual incidents, really too many to relate. But when my father finally came to collect me in June 1955 I waved goodbye from the drive to some children at a window and wept. I think probably for them. If anyone other former inmate wishes to e-mail me on phil.pavey@hotmail.co.uk I have some photos
from a visit about six years ago that I can share.
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