My Life In Styal Prison

My Time in Styal Women’s Prison

First i must say I hope you have your hankie or tissues at the ready

Well folks I knew this would make you think & hopefully have a read of my blog, yes its true when I was very young I used to live there, but the reality is that it used to be the local childrens home & after my parents divorced,( strangely enough my mother left me with my father which still seems very strange for the fact I was only just over two at the time) my father for a time could not cope so I went to live there, as did my brother & sister

I was prompted to write this blog after reading another persons experiences at the same home, in a book they had written, sadly their time was described as terrible with beatings, lack of care & no positive experiences.

Well for me sadly they did separate me from my older brother & sister and yes I did not see them for some years, wish I could ask someone why now, but I got used to it & now its to late

But what was life really like there, was it as bad as others talk about living in care & the next best thing to the workhouse, was that other mans terrible experience the same for me (forgot to say he was there at the same time as me but he was older)

Well for me as much as I can remember I was fed three meals a day, after eating kippers for the first time got bone stuck in my throat that has put me off fish that have bones in ever since, but that was not their fault, also I do remember someone pushing my head in a bowl of rice pudding, just cant remember who or why(did not put me off LOL) definately not the staff

The place was in its own grounds with fields of grass to play in, unlike the homes many other children lived in, in the community, we had believe it or not regular holidays to places like Colwyn Bay, Lowestoft, plus other places I cannot remember which was at a time other children where lucky if they went for a day out to the seaside

Whilst on one of the holidays I have always remembered us all going into a room to see the Queens coronation on a TELEVISION I had never seen one before in my life, plus they also showed Hilary climbing Mount Everest, what a thing to see, so much for the deprivation LOL

What about those beatings, no I have to say at no time did anyone treat me like that & my recollection was only of kindness, one of the ladies known as Miss Mac, I later met in the local village & got to know her as a really nice person, she was particularly kind to me

I also remember getting some sort of nasty illness that was contagious so had to stay in the hospital there, the only other person was a little girl, but soon we both got better & returned to the main home.

My dad used to know when we were playing out & would sometimes come to the railings to say hello, it was always a lovely thing for me, why he could not or did not visit me in the home I never asked in later years, so its to late now so will never find out.

Whilst in there I had a special friend called Billy ( I don’t know his surname ) and we used to play together, also whilst in there I had one of my three starring roles on stage in my life, I was one of the children in the Nutcracker suite dressed in my pyjamas, don’t know what I actually had to do, obviously it did not lead to a career on the stage.

Well it doesn’t sound that bad does it, would I of been better as a latch door kid, being passed from friend to friend seeing little of my family with not enough food on the table as many other families were, I don’t know just it was one of those things that happened in a period in my life.

I forgot to talk about Christmas, well it must have been terrible mustn’t it, because surely I had a terrible time with no parties or presents brought by Father Christmas, well wrong again, what a lovely time it was & so specially made for us, we were taken to pantomimes, to all sorts of parties at places like the fire brigade headquarters or the TA & as for presents well kind people made sure we did not miss out

In relation to Christmas, many years later when working with young people in care, kind people would write in or phone asking if they could take in a child for that period from the home, often they were shocked when told no it was the most enjoyable time of the year & please come back in the new year & get to know the child for twelve months first, which I could truly relate to.

Well I hope this has been an enjoyable read, it was my experience of that time I know my brother & sister came out of it at the age of 15 with very different views, my brother found it a positive experience & went on to have a great deal of success & a well rounded personality, in his sadly short life, whereas my sister never forgave my father & had a chip on her shoulder for the rest of her life

So what’s the message in all of this, maybe life is what you make of it, we can either see it as a positive if at times sad, or we can spend the rest of our lives forgetting all the good bits as my sister & the author of the book did

Sorry it just occurred to me, the funny little story many years later when my sister was with her husband & they were in the area, she got him to drive past the place & said to him hey guess what this is where I used to live, there was a silence before she had to explain that it was not the now women’s prison, but she had been there when it was a children’s home, they dined out on this many times.

Charlie The Dachshund

Well readers this is the story of Charlie the dachshund, who was a good friend to me & the family for many years.

We first met at Manchester dogs home, it was not long after our last dog Katie had died, so of course we were looking for another dog of a collie type or similar ideally the dog would be a female because they seemed so much better than the males.

The dogs at the home were in runs in pairs, mainly barking as people approached, but round the corner was a small dog, just sat quietly as though waiting for someone to come and collect him, we have not realise at the time that he was a male because he had such an endearing face.

I went off to get a member of staff and explained we wanted to see what the dog was like on a lead, well a lead was found so he was tried in the yard and he seemed so happy and friendly that the decision was taken to choose him.

We sorted out the paperwork and took him off to the car where he settled straight away, on the way home we collected all the necessary things that we just disposed of from our last dog, while he is just sat patiently not making a noise.

One of the big things about Charlie was that he was never a yapping dog, he would bark if someone came to the door, but generally made no noise and was happy just to be in company, I always felt that he was in fact a show dog who had got lost, because he seemed so used to being on his own, as well is enjoying being round other people and dogs, also he was used to being bathed and dried, waiting patiently while this was carried out.

He always enjoyed going for a walk whoever it was with, and did not mind other dogs cats or people that we met on the way, in the house he coexisted with a variety of cats of all shapes and temperaments, just quietly going about his own business, so long as you did not go near his food.

When we went to the vets he always seemed to enjoy going there as well, enjoying the meeting with other dogs and cats until the time he had to go to be castrated, ever after that as soon as we went anywhere near the vets he would attempt to run off in the opposite direction, but having a lovely temperament that he had he was easily coaxed back inside.

When it was time to go for a walk he would come and look at me with those lovely big eyes, so could I ever deny him, of course not and I shared many thoughts with him over the years which luckily for me he never chose to tell anybody else about, patiently waiting whilst I chatted to other dog owners who I met along the way.

This continued for many years and he was a lovely companion, but sadly as he got older he is back started to create problems, strangely enough as mine is now doing, and he started to have other medical problems linked to this and he started to slow down.

Sadly in the end the day came when he could no longer walk and because it had been agreed in the past, that if ever he reached this point the kindest thing to do would be to put him to sleep, this was what we did, I still miss Charlie for its lovely nature and gentleness as well as his patience, I don't know if ever I will have another dog, but if I do I would hope for another one such as him or his predecessor Katie.