My Early Years Spent At Little Pond House

I too stayed at Little Pond House in the sixties, I remember Jack and Mary, a rocking horse in the playhouse, going for walks before breakfast and going to see Mary Poppins and someone on stage with a banner saying supercalfragilisticexpialidocious and going back to lphouse after and having pea soup. There was also a climbing frame in the garden where we had our photo taken to join all of the other photos of every child who stayed there that lined the walls in the hall.I remember singing along to Puff the magic dragon which was on the radio so I think it was 1963. Thank you Jack and Mary for looking after children like me who needed tlc and good food.Does anyone know if any of the photos survived?

I remember going to Little Pond House often as
my father was Vice-Chairman of the International
Help for Children Organisation who ran it, it was
a wonderful place to be in

I went with my brother in the 60's, could have been 1964-1966?
We were taken there due to problems at home, we both hated it and although we probably only spent a week there, it felt like a year! They made us eat things we hated and we missed home terribly. I remember the sandpit - I was standing in it one day only to find I was standing in an ants nest, great big soldier ants that started crawling up my legs. I screamed & screamed!!
Seems funny now but I was severely traumatised & have hated insects ever since. I was also very protective of my younger brother who kept being sick because they made him eat something he hated, can't recall what now.
I wrote a letter to my mum but they wouldn't let me post it as they read it first & saw I had said it was awful there & wantef to come home so they made me write another one saying I was having a lovely time!!
When mum met us at the station in London after our time there I was in floods of tears and remember saying how we hated every minute, she was very upset too.

I stayed at Little Pond House in the late 60's with my sister who was 3 years old, I was just 5 years old. We arrived and was met by people we had never met before and was told we had to call them "uncle Jack & auntie Mary". We had our our own clothes we took with us taken away from us and we were given rather old scruffy clothes to wear. We had to go out and feed the animals on the grounds (chickens etc...) as this was part of our daily chores. We were taken out door knocking begging for clothes and money.
I at 5 had a huge responsibility put on me in making sure they didn't take my sister away from me, so they put her on a mattress on the floor next to my bed in the dormitory I was in. I remember waking up one night to find someone standing over me on my bed who then urinated all over me, I was taken by uncle Jack and beaten. Another night I remember being woken and taken from the dormitory by a member of staff, I was taken to an outbuilding on the grounds where a hand was put over my mouth, I couldn't breath, the next thing I remember was waking up in my bed and the sheets had blood on them, my bottom was still bleeding and I just remember the pain and crying, this happened to me many more times during my time there and has affected me my whole life. I hated LPH and the people there. I was there for some time, and I too remember being forced to drink milk which I have never liked and forced to eat cheese, another thing I hated and I used to throw up terribly because of it, but they still forced me to have it. The memories of my time at that place still terrorise me, and I too wanted to escape and run away, but I couldn't leave my sister there alone. I hope those people who ran the place and abused others like they did me rot in hell.

I can relate to some of these comments. We were a family of 4 children sent to little pond house maybe late 60s. We have horrible memories of it and something tonight made me decide to comment. My younger sister was not allowed to sleep with us her older sisters. Punishment was by way of humiliation and letters home were read by jack & Mary. We were offered a 2nd trip there and all of us refused. To be.so young and sent away under the guise of a "holiday" was unforgivable. Marie Doheny

I worked at Little Pond House in the summer of 1969. My mother had seen an article about it in a women's magazine and suggested I apply there for work in my university holiday. I was 19. I lasted a week. Jack and Mary ran the place like an army camp. Some children were favoured - for example the young girl who used to go through my personal belongings when I was out of my room. I reported her to Jack and was told I should let her do it. I was not allowed to pick up or cuddle the little ones, even when they were crying. There were lots of rules but no love or affection offered by Jack and Mary. Everything about the place upset me, coming as I did from a large family where I was loved. After about a week I had a bit of a meltdown and told them what I thought of the place. They put me on the train home that very afternoon. Reading the above comments has confirmed my feelings about the place, which as a young person I subsequently put behind me as I returned to my life at university. I would like to extend my sympathy to all the children who had bad experiences there and my apologies that I did nothing to stop it happening after I left.

I went to LPH when I was about 8; I was sent there with my little brother who was recovering from meningitis. He has been in hospital for nearly a year and it was thought that sending him to the country (we lived in London), plenty of fresh air, etc; I was sent with him so he would not be alone. I cannot remember exactly how long we were there for but it seemed forever. We had to put our names in our clothes before we went - don't know why as they were taken from us when we arrived and we had to wear their clothes. I don't really remember 'auntie' Mary but I do remember 'uncle' Jack. He was a tyrant; a horrible man who should not have been put in charge of anybody's wellbeing, let alone vulnerable children away from home. I was so glad to go home and I vowed that if I ever had children, I would never, ever, let them go to a place like that.

I also stayed there with my brother and sisters i was cained by jack finch at the age of 6 years old also my 5 year old brother i witnessed him smash some little girls ear as she had an earing aid in her ear and he smashed it in her ear was made to stand out in thd cold in underwhear in the mornings i heard variose screams in the night was forced to eat pure fat had our money taken off us and the letters read thaf you sent home made to clean the foul excrement from the chicken shed only allowd to go to the toilet twice a day i know that these monsters hack anx mzry finch are now dead probably rotting in hell someone surely must be held accountable for the atrocities of child that happend there all them years ago his son peter finch has wrote a book saying how the children where treated nice and making out how lovely his mum and dad where to all the children this is not the case