My Home In The 1960s!

A Memory of Jacques Hall.

Mum and Dad were nurses, Dad specialising in psychiatric nursing. In the late 1960s, their careers took them to Jacques Hall and a post with what was then known as the Spastics Society.

The Society had either bought or leased the building and some 20 residents with varying physical and mental challenges were cared for by Dad and a dedicated team of staff including occupational therapists, kitchen staff and housekeepers.

We lived in the gate lodge and I remember the long sweeping drive from the lodge to the Hall. My brother and I spent three happy years there, attending Bradfield County Primary School before Dad’s next post took us to Norwich, a far cry from the idyllic surroundings of a glorious Essex countryside setting.

I took my partner to Bradfield on a trip down memory lane a few years ago. We visited the Hall and met the then owner who kindly allowed us to look round. Seeing the magnificent building and my old home (boarded up at the time but due to be refurbished) took me back fifty years. I was pleased to see that it was providing accommodation for key workers and had previously been an educational establishment for children with special needs for many years.

I doubt that anyone will remember Vic and Peggy Devonport, much less their sons Nick and Noel, but I remember my time there with great fondness.

I found this page after posting photos of Mum and Dad at the dedication of a coach for which they had raised funds to give the residents trips to local places of interest. If I discover how to upload them, I will.

Nick Devonport