Assisi Mother & Baby Homes

[dawnsh]

John

I have sent you a personal message.

Thanks for editing your post.

Dawn

[myheartbelongstoharry]

Hello. I was born in Assisi in January 1968.  My mother's name was Elizabeth.  Would be grateful for any information whatsoever - it sounds quite a scary place!

Thanks

[dawnsh]

Hi myheartbelongstoharry

Welcome to Rootschat 

What sort of information are you looking for?

Dawn

[myheartbelongstoharry]

Hi Dawn,

Thanks for your message.  I would love to see some photos and to understand what the atmosphere was like - the nuns seem to have been a bit brusque.  I wonder how people typically ended up there?  I am probably being very naive....  And of course would love to know if anyone remembers an Elizabeth from January 1968 thought that is a long shot!

Thanks

[dawnsh]

Have you started reading this topic from the beginning?

There are themes running through the posts and someone has posted a link to a current photo, and another suggests where the records are kept now.

If people don't return here after they get a notification of a reply, then they won't get anymore so it seems some people post once or twice then go away again.

If any of the chatters has  post count of 2 and above you could try sending them a personal message to see if you get a response that way.

If you haven't done so already, please take a moment to read our guidelines for posting as we have a 'no living people' policy here.

http://www.rootschat.com/help/posting_guide.php

Have you accessed your birth file from the General Register Office?

[Ladyinthevan]

I was there from Feb to April 1965. I had my son there. It was very snowy. I remember being in charge of the chapel before I gave birth. I had to wills a large floor polisher and move all the pews on my own. After lying. In for a few days during which we had to sluice all the mucky sheets from th labour ward,
I was moved out to a building in the grounds and maintained the boiler.
I kept my son and set up home in Stretham with two other gifts from the home. We took our babies to the same babyminder and slept in the same room and the three babies were together.

[Ladyinthevan]

I was there from Feb to April 1965. I had my son there in the middle of a snow storm. I remember being in charge of the chapel before I gave birth. I had to wield a large floor polisher and move all the pews on my own. After lying in for a few days, during which we had to sluice all the mucky sheets from the labour ward,
I was moved out to a building in the grounds and spent every day for five weeks stoking the boilers. We were not allowed to have our babies with us; they were in the nursery. We could only go to see them at feeding time. I found that heartbreaking. I only remember two nuns being there both of whom were midwives. The girls did all the work involved in running the home.
I do remember  vividly the atmosphere the night before one of the mothers was to give up her baby. It was like the night before an execution. The girl involved was mad with grief and barely able to speak.
I kept my son and set up home in Streatham with two other girls from the home called Maria and Angela. We took our babies to the same babyminder and slept in the same room and the three babies were together.

[AnneOM]

I was born there 1959.Would love to hear from anybody that was there at that time.I have been tracing my family history and managed to find out quite a few details .

[dawnsh]

I've merged your post with another longer topic on the subject.