Beecholme

A Memory of Banstead.

My brother Alec (12) and I (11) were at Beecholme from January to December
1956 we were orphans our parents died 7 months apart in 1955.

We were in myrtle cottage changed to Willow cottage by the childrens vote
I choose Willow and was very excited they picked it.

We had 2 house Mothers that we called Auntie.
We went to school outside the home.
We have mostly very good memories, but a few bad.
The children I remember are Terry & Josephine Patterson.
Joyce Bray. John Woods.

I would love to hear from anyone that was there.
Thank you.
Kathleen.

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Added 27 May 2014

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I was at Beechholme from February 1956 until September 1962 but with a gap between May 1956 and September 1957 when I was in hospital. I have written an account of my Beechholme experiences in the book Beechholme a Children's Village published by Banstead History Research Group. I am sad that the village where I grew up has been wiped off the map in its entirety. Although life in the home was tough in many ways, it was a great place to grow up.

By Roger Armstrong on Thu Mar 12th 2015, at 7:46 pm

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I was at Beecholme with my elder sister,where we were ill treated.We were then moved to a Boarding out home. Gayfere House.Tollers Lane. run by a Miss Quigley. We were battered,Abused and ill treated.London County Council and Wandsworth Council destroyed most of the records from Gayfere House.This property was owned by a Greek Shipping Company. Could anybody with any information please get in touch.

By sergeantgraeme54 on Tue Feb 14th 2017, at 3:50 pm

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Myself and my two siblings were brought up in Lime House, Beechholme during the 1960s. Life under the 'care' of our housemother, Margaret Pelly, proved to be a hard and unhappy experience. I seemed to be more fortunate than many of the other children in Lime House in that my father made weekly visits (others there seemed to get no family visits at all). You can read more about my experiences in my new book titled 'Beechholme, The Place to Be' (published by Lewarne-Publishing).

By Steven Harris on Thu Apr 10th 2025, at 11:52 am

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