Ashford residental home . middlesex

[lukeone]

To Johnsearch
my father William at the home from 1924 1938 says that the only time the residential school closed was when they went on an annual holiday (that is all the residents and staff) otherwise the home/ school was always open.
There where technical students who daily attended schools around middlesex for higher learning.

[CaptKirk]

hi , i started this post hoping someone could remember my dad jimmy Wharton and his sisters , dolly , Winnie and ?
i only know he was there from aged 2 in 1930  until the war .. so he would have never known any different but he said it wasn't bad ...... interesting different perspectives .....
how do we find the records for this school and where ..
thanks ..
Jan ..

First, I'd like to extend my apologies to frederickay as I have not been able to respond to your message. Apparently, my RootsChat.Com account does not allow me to respond to direct messages. To answer your question, I mentioned the names of your dad and sisters but she does not remember any of them.

Sorry!

[CaptKirk]

To Johnsearch
my father William at the home from 1924 1938 says that the only time the residential school closed was when they went on an annual holiday (that is all the residents and staff) otherwise the home/ school was always open.
There where technical students who daily attended schools around middlesex for higher learning.

My mother says the same. She spend most all of her childhood there and says that the only time she spent away from the school was on the annual holiday to the seaside (Dymchurch Holiday Camp or Wallton on the Naze).

[sthn.jeff]

Hi everyone

I stumbled across the site, all the way from New Zealand. My Dad, Bill (Billy, or William) was at the Ashford Home, along with his three older Sisters Doreen, Jean and Elsie from around 1943 when he was four or five after they had been placed in care when his mother and father seperated. Dad is now 71 and has only just started talking about his past at ashford in the last few years. To say it was grim for him at least is an understatement. Not only was he seperated from his parents as a four or five year old, he was also segregated from his sisters within the home and he very rarely saw them. He only recently, in the last six years re untied with his sisters Doreen and Elsie after some 50 years, who my sister managed to track down via the Internet and who had been trying to locate dad for a number of years. They travelled to NZ to meet all of us and it is interesting to put some of the "missing pieces" together. Dad is not to well nowadays, suffering from Parkinsons, but I think he may find some of these posts interesting. As a side note he obtained a heap of records from the London Metropolitan Archives relating to his care, not so much at Ashford in particular, but from the Council, who were effectively guardians for him and his Sisters.

[Shetlandok]

I'm not sure I qualify as a member here as i never actually attended the residential school.
However my father took the family down from Shetland to Ashford in 1956 as he had joined the prison service. There was little in the islands in those days workwise.
I was just 8 years old and it seemed like an exciting place as I was explring all the old victorian buildings. We lived in a house in the grounds initially and my father was involved in the reconstruction of the buildings. He was a carpenter by trade.
I remember the tunnel which ran under the railway line out to the woods and ponds beyond. I also remember scrumping in the orchard at the back whilst looking out for the caretaker.
I realise that my experiences there can have little comparison to the painful experiences of the kids who used to live in there, but I have many memories of the place and would like to find out more about it.
I was down there just a few years ago and was quite devastated to find a new prison there and all traces of the old buildings gone. It just seemed wrong somehow.
I would be delighted to correspond with anyone who can tell me anything about the place.
Kind regards,
John

[jane harrison]

hello john
the new prison is Bronsefield built on the grounds of ashford remand centre it is a high security womans prison & has been home to the likes of beverly allet, rose west,to name a few.
jeannette

[Shetlandok]

Thankyou for that Jeannette, were you resident in there at some point?
And I mean the old school not the new building...   
cheers
John

[jane harrison]

hello john
my mother went to the school just down the road,she came from the next village (stanwell) i have also lived in the area from around 1963 to 1979 then 1983 to present,i remember making friends with a girl called susan her father was a warden around 1972 & she lived in the road at the side of the remand all for staff. also visited the remand around 1974/75 it was falling apart then so only a matter of time before it was knocked down  feltham also about that time had a delapatated remand center if memory serves right.a new remand was built at feltham just a few miles away & all male inmates transfered to it. this remand has often been in the news as they seem to have a high suicide rate amongst the younger lads. the old ashford one was knocked down & remained open land for quite a few years,then came the news that a high security prison was to be built,despite huge protests from local residents it went ahead .as a matter of intrest did you see the news last mon about a man holding staff & customers hostage at barclays in ashford church road? ashford libary have a few books on the home & remand centre but its not open on a mon.
regards
jeannette

[frederickay]

hi when i went to  look at ashford for dad i thought it was in a road starting with w and i was near woking .. am i entirely in wrong place because it was residential opposite a big park on a crescent type road and tho there was salvation army building it was the least like a prison i have seen . i thought something like woodthorpe  road /
 maybe that is why i could nt find it
 thanks
Jan