Boys home,during ww2 Bourne End

[fresearch]

Hi,
I have been reading your comments about the home at Bourne End and I believe that a cousin of mine might have been at that home from at least 1941 to possibly 1947. I only have one photo of him taken in 1941 stating that it was taken at aylesbury. Looking at the photos of the Homestead it looks as though the photo was taken there.
He was evacuated from Putney that is all I know. His mother went abroad without him and no one in the family knows what has happend to him. Can you help. His name is Raymond and he would have been 3-4 in 1941 so approx 8-9yrs old when you where there in 1945. I understand that he suffered with asthma. Like you I have had little information about the evacuees when I visited Aylesbury records office.
Any information would help. Many Thanks
Carol

[McDouall]

Hi Carol.
nice to hear from you.
Sadly I cannot remember many kids that were with me, at the Homestead in 1945.
There were about twenty to thirty  then, but most had left by mid 1946.
If you would like to send me a copy  of the photograph you have, or perhaps post it here?        don.mcdouall@gmail.com
I might reckonise Raymond, or at least tell you if the photo was taken at the Homestead.
The aftermath of war lead people to do strange things.
Raymonds mother may have thought he was deceased?
Or had been sent abroad as so many unwanted (by the government of the day) children were.
One cannot judge with so much trauma that was a part of so many lives at that time.
Re: the asthma thing, in those days it was referred to at the home as cartahh  problems, most of us had block up noses; I know I did.

Who knows someone one day reading this might be able to shine more light
 regards Don McDouall
 

[IMBER]

Since I last contributed to this discussion in October I have discovered that my great aunt used to work at The Homestead!  Unfortunately that is all I know as she died a few years ago. I still think that there may be information in the LCC records held in the London Metropolitan Archives.

[fresearch]

Hi Graham.
Many thanks for responding so quickly. I have attached the photograph of Raymond, although it was taken in 1941 when he was quite small,  I would appreciate your opinion as to whether you think the background is the same as an area at the Homestead. It just might give me a starting point  the start the research again. Until reading and seeing your photo of the home I really did not know where to start as Aylesbury seem to have no info about the evacuees.
Thanks for all your help. If I manage to find info about Homestead I will post it on here.
Thanks once again
Regards Carol

[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

[McDouall]

Hi Imber.
When I was living there (october1945-March 1947)
I can remember only the two staff.
The matron was married, she had a house or was living after the home closed down, somewhere in Ealing Broadway? Was around 40 to 55 yrs of age in 1947.
She had a gammy leg , one leg shorter then the other; wore a shoe/boot with a thick sole.
Wore glasses. cut her hair in what I think was called the Eaton style (short like a man) Had a niece called Jean who was living at the homestead and went to school in Cookham.Drove a small black car most likely a ford ten.
Her name was Merriman or Mormenion or Memorium something like that
The other staff member was about 26 to 40 years of age, had black hair & was of Mediterranean appearance.
She was the cook as I remember her, Her name was Reen, or Rheen we called her Reen or Reenee
Boys were rostered off to work with her in the kitchen.

Of course prior to me going there , the place would have had a lot more boys.
& most likely a lot more staff.
Then again us boys did most of the work lol... wasnt really funny though cleaning 30 shoes or more before breakfast; my first chore on staying there.

cheers Don

[IMBER]

Hi

I think my Great Aunt, who was from Maidenhead, was there between the wars.  She would have been on the domestic staff I think and may have reported to someone called Mrs Scott.  That's all I know.

Imber

[denyer_s]

My Grandmother Mrs. Helen Membury ran Homestead School in Bourne End, my mother Jean Gorham is the niece people in this email chain are recalling.  Mrs Membury died 15 years ago but my mother is still alive and well and living in Suffolk.

We have many pictures of the Homestead School which my grandmother remembered with great affection. I believe the school cook may have been Grace Higgs for a period of time who did have a Mediterranean appearance, she was assisted by Mrs Membury's sister for a period who may have been called Rene.

My grandmother was employed as Matron by the government, the school was set up to care for boys who came from a disadvantaged background (largely from the East end )where it was felt that placement of that child with a "rural" family may have led to child control difficulties. This maybe why your official would not divulge information as this could be deemed sensitive and may have been classified as secret.

Funding for the home was limited and so the children were expected to assist with chores. My grandmother did tell us that the boys at the  home were not generally appreciated by local village grandees, they generally did not like normal boyish behavior considered normal by the rest of us.

I laughed when I heard your description of my grandmother, the short hair and gammy leg were her signature, she walked with a hop! She received a medal for her work at the Homestead, the school closed at the end of the war with the repatriation of children back to their parents. Essentially the school had outlived it's intended purpose, nothing sinister.

I am sure my mother would love to talk to any of the old boys! Does anyone know what happened to Jim Adams?

[McDouall]

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