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Hi  A bit late as they say , but I haven't been back here for a long time...
The house the Homestead was demolished  by the owner about 1953... his son sent me a few photos of the place before it was knocked down I will try to find and  post them here later... I didn't know Alfred Chaplain... Then again I moved there in 1945 and left in early 1947 so most boys by then had gone... I mentioned  much earlier on this site that a good childhood friend  of mine there was a boy Stanis Osterly... Shows how clever this net is!   Stanis`s son contacted me about 2 years back telling me his father lived in Sydney... Well I met up with him  about 1 yr back  when he came to Perth WA ... just shows what a small world this really is ... cheers to all Don McDouall

Hi John
that sounds as if it could be interesting?
Give me an email address , perhaps also outline your ideas
regards Don

G`Day.
At last we have someone who gets the name right lol.
Of course it is a long time ago and I was there only a few very long months (about October1945 to April 1947)
Great to hear Jean is still with us;she most likely would not remember me, but may recall a good friend of mine at that time.
A blond  lad about 13 yrs old in 1946 named Stanis Osterly.one of his chores was rubbish burning, something I enjoyed doing with him.
I remember Jean very well, perhaps being the only girl in the place lol.
Jean would have been about 14 yrs old 1946 I was 12.
Did she tell you she had a boy friend in the village?
I think she may have stayed at boarding school during the week?

It would be unrealistic to say most boys there in my time were happy there.
I know I wasn't
It was a grim place to grow up in.
The picture I got from my stay was it was more a place to dump unwanted kids
after the war. May have been entirely different while the war was on?
In looking back most kids were marking time, waiting to be claimed.
During the war I was an evacuee billeted with a family.
a few weeks after wars end I was moved to a home in the same village, here I was joined by two other boys Derek Yorke & Berty Black, both had been evacuees.
All three of us were moved a few weeks later to The Homestead.
By 1946 both had be claimed.
I was the last boy there & went back to the family I was billeted with during the war, as I was never claimed.

According to a chap who kindly sent me photographs of the place, his family bought the house sometime around 1950 , soon after it was demolished.

I do know that most likely sometime in 1947-48 Mrs Membury invited me along with other boys to her home in Ealing? ( I think)
Remember going there for a few days.

I would love  to see any photo`s you may have with  boys there.
Give this poem to Jean it might help her have a laugh.

"we are the Homestead boys!We make a lot of the noise.
We know our manners, we spend our tanners. We are respected whereever we go.
When we`re walking down the Broadway line; doors and windows open wide.
You should hear the Sargent shout "Put that bloody woodbine out" We are the Homestead boys.

Cheers & have a good Year Don McDouall

Hi Cynfelin.
That is interesting!
Perhaps you can tell me in what way we are connected as i have little knowledge of anything to do with my family before I was born; in fact very little to do with them afterwards lol.
All I can tell you is I have a sister June, who lives in London but we are not in contact (have not seen her since 1939) I had an elder sister Esther who died back about 10 yrs or so, we corresponded in later life but i have not seen her since about 1940. Esther has a family  in Yorkshire.
I have children, grand children , great grand children all live in NSW & Qld.
I live in WA Australia.
My sister June done a lot of research  as to our family going back to around the 15th century, made very good reading, if you would like a copy i can email it to you.
Thats about all I can say.
Would like to hear from your side
regards Don McDouall

Hi Carol
the back ground in your  photo.
looks very much like the veranda rails at the rear of the house.
This house was very prone to flooding  and so for that reason was raised up off the ground.
In your pick on wooden stumps.
In my time I thought it was on brick?
But then again under the house , at the rear was fenced off with wooden lattice.
I remember this because us kids were curious as to what was behind.
There were steps (most likely concrete) leading up onto the verandah & the first room you entered was the room us boys spent most of our time in.
If you look at the photo of the house at the rear (note this was taken about 1950, 3 yrs after it was closed) The middle bay window led to the room where I slept.
The French windows (in front a drain grate) led to the Games room which most times was out of bounds & between it and the verandah (the blank wall) was the matrons quarters her window faced the road in front of the house.

Sorry but I cannot reckonise Raymond, he looks about 3 or 4 yrs old  at that time so most likely was gone when I first went there  (october 1945)
Cheers Don