Assisi Mother & Baby Homes

[Mary Browne]

Hi Siobhan,
     I was in Assisi in  Feb ,March ,April of 1968.  Like your Mum i kept my baby.  I am happy to share my contact details with you.   Everybody's memories are personal.
Mine was of an establishment surviving on a shoestring ,minimal staff with a heavy workload and everyone who stayed there sharing the load.
M&B homes are sad places , most young mothers knowing they are going to part with their babies forever. Because of circumstances what should be the happiest occasion in their lives becomes the saddest , and often without the support of family or  friends. It over shadows the rest of their lives . There is no escaping it.
 Do you think your Mum finds it difficult to talk about that period in her life and would rather you did'nt either, she did'nt have you adopted so the years following Assisi could have been even more difficult for her.
I will be happy to help you and wish you well.
Susieb

[Angie Jandro]

I was born in Assisi in 1961 and I'm looking to contact Mike Fletcher whose mother Angie was there at same time as my mother was .

[Angie Jandro]

I was born in Assisi in 1961 and would like as much info as possible of the home during Dec 1960-May 1961. My mother was there at this time and I'm trying to piece it all together. I visited home that is a private residence now and would like more info please .

[dawnsh]

Hi Angie

Welcome to Rootschat 

Looking at Mike's profile, he was online here after you posted, maybe he got an email notification.

However, unless he replies on this or any topic, you can't contact him as he doesn't have enough posts to be able to ue the personal message system.

Many people on this topic have posted once and not come back again.

Dawn

[joolz82]

Hi there Kathryn
I was so pleased to stumble upon this thread, although I'm not sure if it is still active. I was born in the Assisi mother and baby home Hammer Lane Grayshott  in Jan 1964. My mothers name was Theresa she was 18 then I think but like so many others she doesn't really like to talk about her experiences. I would be most interested to hear from anyone who knew her or even just to find out more about the place or even see some old pictures. I am aware that it has been converted to flats but would love to hear about others experiences or see any original pictures of how it was when it was run by nuns. I finally made contact with my birth mother when I was 18 she lives in Ireland now but I have met her a couple of times and we keep in touch on FB I don't think her experience of that time was very pleasant and I feel so sorry for all those young girls and what they had to go through

[joolz82]

Hi Angie
I was born at Assisi also I think because it was our birth place but we didn't have typical births it leaves lots of questions. Like you I have asked for more info or pictures. If I receive anything I will let you know

[dawnsh]

Hi Joolz82

Welcome to Rootschat 

The topic appears to be dormant but the moderating team do not remove them when they are.

Kathryn who started this, hasn't been online here since 2015.

The others seems to post once but don't return.

So people like yourself will continue to find the topic through internet search engines.

Maybe someone will come along in the future with more of a longer term interest in the stories here.

Dawn

[mullion cove]

Hi Angie
I was born at Assisi also I think because it was our birth place but we didn't have typical births it leaves lots of questions. Like you I have asked for more info or pictures. If I receive anything I will let you know

x

Hi, my husband lived, as a boy, in a house called Cedar Cottage which was only a couple of hundred yards away from the Assisi home.  He was a young boy in the the late 1940s early 1950s but remembers the girls going up and down Hammer Lane to Churt Village.  He remembers the building as being a dark and secret place that wasn't talked about.  He remembers going inside once, probably with his Mother, but can't really remember why.  He says that the girls would often speak to him and his brother as they walked by and he remembers seeing them in the village and in a bakers shop that was just down the road from Assisi, it was called Youngs Bakers selling bread, sweets cigarettes etc.
When my husband and I were married in 1967 I remember seeing  pregnant girls in the village shop.  I didn't know about the home and fleetingly wondered why there were so many very pregnant girls! 
I think that the position of the home, being situated out of the village, meant that what went on behind closed doors was kept secret.  It is interesting to note that my husband was only a boy of about 8 years old but has memories of being afraid of the building and the nuns.  Sadly he has no photos of the building that is now converted into apartments.  I wonder if the people who have purchased them are aware of the horrors that went on behind closed doors.

[sheofcwm]

I was sent to the Assissi mother and baby home in Grayshott in 1968 at the age of 15 after being raped by two men. I was in that hell hole for 3 months.  Eventually my mother agreed to my leaving and bringing baby home and she would pass him off to the neighbours as being fostered. I went to work and she looked after baby. The novelty wore off for her and being aged 55 I think she found hi'm too hard to care for.
I came home one day to see my son, now aged about 18months,being taken away by a social worker. I do not recall signing any forms for his adoption and can only think that my mother forged my signature. I took an overdose and died. I was bought back to life and told to carry on as if nothing had ever happened. I have spent the rest of my life on anti depressants and in and out of mental hospitals.
To cut a very long story short, I found my son in 1997 and told him of his conception and that my mother had had him adopted. He didn't believe me. He was mentally unwell, a heroin addict and for the next 8 years I tried to help him. In the process I lost my partner, my home and my job. Upon finding my son, in order to prove to him that I had not rejected him, I reported the initial rape and a special cold case police team found one of the rapists. He was put on the sex offenders register. I had been mentally unwell myself ever since my son was born and eventually in 2005, I had to tell my boy that I could no longer cope with him. He committed suicide. I will always blame my mother, The Catholic Childrens Society and Croydon Social services for all the heartache my son endured.
But mostly I blame the Assissi home and those wicked nuns for the heartache that 'Ive been through. No young vulnerable girls  should have gone through what we did in that place.