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B'ham Boarding School 1881

Re: Tennal School

hi bob
I have just been reading your thread on tennal;
and i have seen the dates you say you was there during the fiftes ;
being you asked if any body whom was there during that period , do you recall a lad whom was a perament
obsconda over the wall with his mates , his nick name was goldie; a blond hair lad
and he and his mates was for ever going over the wall for various reasons ,
and i think you would really know what i meant by dad
you said the staff was half decent and nothink went on . well it must have been quitely kept
before all this scandal of abuse in the homes was and had been carrying on since the year dot.
and because of the stigma of these homes in the way back years
like they called them approve schools .borstal s and hard labour detention centres and prisons
the society and the legal system did not to know and they thought they should not have the right to complain
even the kids parents was to embarres to complain for the thought of letting there neibours are in jail or locked up for theiving in these institutes so they never went to complain how there kids was treated
if joe public heard about it they would have said yes they deserve it flogg them with the cat
so these people whom was to be there carers got away with abusing them
but i have information from way back in the early fifties from such kids whom was interd at tennal
during that period you speak of at that actual time speaking to me in the year of fifty five on wards
when these kids was being abused, but thank god all those tyrants at tennal have all been found and dealt with afew years back and have been punished
on the subject of the lad i called goldie he obsconded and was eventualy transfered to a school in south wales
where he was a happy lad loved to play foot ball and done well ;[i will not reveal is true surname]
but is nick name was goldie ; he his happily marrid and with childremn of his own now
thet ain,t no trouble . but just before i will stop .i will tell you years after in the seventies the slime crept into
the south wales home where goldie went , goldie got out in the sixtys
and one lad there whom was new there was abuse by a member of staff and he was brave to tell his parents about it and through him society and the law became very knowledgeable to the wide scale of such abuse to these kids ,you was lucky .it was only a select few , but through out the country it was on a wide scale
hence the operation flight as it was called then--at las it no longer in operation
thanks for putting your thread on
best wishes astonian ;;;;
 
Re: Tennal School

Hi Astonian
I am compiling a history of Birmingham children's homes at Birmingham's Central Library and am covering the time period I think you are talking about. If you might like to share some of your memories with me, I would be very interested - I can guarantee your confidentiality of course. Many thanks
[email protected]


Astonian said:
hi bob
I have just been reading your thread on tennal;
and i have seen the dates you say you was there during the fiftes ;
being you asked if any body whom was there during that period , do you recall a lad whom was a perament
obsconda over the wall with his mates , his nick name was goldie; a blond hair lad
and he and his mates was for ever going over the wall for various reasons ,
and i think you would really know what i meant by dad
you said the staff was half decent and nothink went on . well it must have been quitely kept
before all this scandal of abuse in the homes was and had been carrying on since the year dot.
and because of the stigma of these homes in the way back years
like they called them approve schools .borstal s and hard labour detention centres and prisons
the society and the legal system did not to know and they thought they should not have the right to complain
even the kids parents was to embarres to complain for the thought of letting there neibours are in jail or locked up for theiving in these institutes so they never went to complain how there kids was treated
if joe public heard about it they would have said yes they deserve it flogg them with the cat
so these people whom was to be there carers got away with abusing them
but i have information from way back in the early fifties from such kids whom was interd at tennal
during that period you speak of at that actual time speaking to me in the year of fifty five on wards
when these kids was being abused, but thank god all those tyrants at tennal have all been found and dealt with afew years back and have been punished
on the subject of the lad i called goldie he obsconded and was eventualy transfered to a school in south wales
where he was a happy lad loved to play foot ball and done well ;[i will not reveal is true surname]
but is nick name was goldie ; he his happily marrid and with childremn of his own now
thet ain,t no trouble . but just before i will stop .i will tell you years after in the seventies the slime crept into
the south wales home where goldie went , goldie got out in the sixtys
and one lad there whom was new there was abuse by a member of staff and he was brave to tell his parents about it and through him society and the law became very knowledgeable to the wide scale of such abuse to these kids ,you was lucky .it was only a select few , but through out the country it was on a wide scale
hence the operation flight as it was called then--at las it no longer in operation
thanks for putting your thread on
best wishes astonian ;;;;
Click to expand...
 
Hi Margaret, I don't know if you are still interested in the school query, but I can tell you for certain that the school that comes up in St Thomas district as Birmingham Boarding School is the Birmingham Bluecoat Charity School that was based near St Philips. You can see all the records still at the Heritage section in Bhm Central Library. Below is a description of the school - and the aims really worked, as poor boys from my family went there and did really well in later life. It was their records that allowed me to solve the 1881 record problem. I began to suspect that the lad I found there in 1881 was at the school, and compared the staff with staff on the 1871 record for another family member who went there. (The 1871 record makes it crystal clear that this was the Bluecoat School.) The staff were the same, only 10 years older!

"In the year 1724 was erected, on the eastern side of the pleasant churchyard surrounding St. Philip's (Temple Row), the Blue Coat Charity School. The object of this excellent institution was to afford orphans, and the children of the poor, clothing, maintenance, a good elementary education, and religious instruction according to the principles of the Church of England.The Blue Coat School was founded in 1722 by the first rector of St Philip’s William Higgs to educate children aged 9-14 of poor families; 32 boys and 20 girls were clothed, fed and educated. The school was enlarged 1749, 1777, 1782, and largely rebuilt 1794. From1816, 158 children attended. A master taught children reading, writing and arithmetic, a mistress taught girls needlework and housework; in 1866 there was a headmaster, 2 masters and 2 mistresses. At fourteen, the children are removed into the commercial world, and often acquire an affluence that enabled them to support that foundation which formerly supported them."

 
Re: Tennal School

Hi BobS, I was there from 1957 to 1959 The guy in charge of the Pigs was a taffy called Sammy Williams who also had a good deal to do with Boxing team with another man called Hill, the Headmaster was a Mr Heathcoat & his Deputy was a man called Mr Gold Or Golding. I was house captain of Yates. Now what you mean about that Spud shed yes they had a machine but you still had to use a spud pealer on the bits that the machine left.... Hope to hear back from you !!!!!
 
I spent three years from 1970-1973 in Druids Heath approved school in Aldridge .There was only one member of staff that was low life.He later worked at Tennel (nuff said)Apart from that i have fond memories of the place.Bearing in mind that Aldridge was a village back then !
 
hi mick
so in fact it was like an holiday home for the kids but there was no comparison to compare what the kids of tennal had to endenvour all the smutty
staff that was there i beleive there was one or two i also have recorded the taffy man as being very smutty and i beleive he got is come upence in later years
and he was one of the first to be rounded up and still doing his time i will not mentin any names of people
because you mentioned gold or golding gold was the man and golding was the young boy whom suffered a great deal here whom was a persistantly obsconding over the wall
whom spent one hell of a time there longer than nessary but owing to his persistant obsconded told of his beatening when brought back
along with one or two of his mates names i will not mention i beleive at one time during the early years of tennal the walls was high andbig spot lights mounted on thewalls at night to spot any break outs when they first catch them the police would apprend them and take them to moseley rd remand centre wich was more secure than tennal
before being transfered back to tennal for more beating and sexual abuse by a number of staff was employed there at the time
and eventual they got up with the youth of golding so they shipped out far a field to wales the kid was from a poor back ground and lived in hyde rd at that time
in lady wood so he never got to see his brothers or his mother and father for years before he got back to ladywood
and eventualy other kids at a later years complained and the parents started to investigate but it took operation flight from the south wales of abergaveny police
to start all the homes of abuse as it was every where even the one in wales where the young lad complained to his parents of being beaten
and it came to light that previous years at this schol in wales the ladshadsuffered sexual abuse and the polcewent back quite afewyearson this school and they was arrested
and sentence for a long time the head master whiom i cannot name tried to pretend that he was mental ill to avoid justice and he got away with it
but thanks to goldiie and the lad in wales where it started that sparked the nation wide hunt and checks
i can only presume in the1800s and early 1900s kids must haveben heavvy abused but back in them days people used to hide the fact from there neibours that there johny
was locked up in these istitutes and because it was the police they was frightendto say any think or compain to the aurthority but thank god times have changed
best wishes astonion
 
mickh555 said:
I spent three years from 1970-1973 in Druids Heath approved school in Aldridge .There was only one member of staff that was low life.He later worked at Tennel (nuff said)Apart from that i have fond memories of the place.Bearing in mind that Aldridge was a village back then !
Click to expand...

hiya, its been years since i heard anyone mention druids heath school, i have very very fond memories of that place, i went there for the last few weeks of mr a.j.rees,s time as headmaster, after that Mr bright took over and lived in top flat as we called it, i remember THE DOG. as we called him, playin piano ,
i stayed at druids for 5 yrs, i loved it, anyone remember mr preistley ? mr myatt ? and the guy with the landrover?

i also loved going to camp at llanmadoc, absolutley brilliant, i wonder does anyone have one of those glass fruit bowls with druids heath school engraved on it? id give my right arm for one of those, id actually like to meet up with friends i spent time with there, my email is [email protected]

i am very sad that some .... decided to bull doze the place, i did go back a few times to visit after i left, i really did love that place,
 
mickh555 said:
I spent three years from 1970-1973 in Druids Heath approved school in Aldridge .There was only one member of staff that was low life.He later worked at Tennel (nuff said)Apart from that i have fond memories of the place.Bearing in mind that Aldridge was a village back then !
Click to expand...

i remember druids very well, i was there when John Bright took over from A J Rees, I absolutley loved it there, so much that i stayed 5 years, Id love to meet up with anyone there when i was,
my email address is [email protected]
 
mickh555 said:
I spent three years from 1970-1973 in Druids Heath approved school in Aldridge .There was only one member of staff that was low life.He later worked at Tennel (nuff said)Apart from that i have fond memories of the place.Bearing in mind that Aldridge was a village back then !
Click to expand...
I spent 5 glorious years at druids heath school, i actually loved the place, i went there when A J Rees was headmaster untill John Bright took over, he had top flat as it was know with his missus,
we went on holidays to camp at Llanmadoc, do you remember Mr Myatt or Mr Preistley, or Mr Hall who had the landrover, i would be very interested to hear from any former inmates,
i can remember a guy called Ian Askey, bit funny he was, im desperate to get my hands on a fruitbowl which was engraved with druids heath school on it, if anyones got a spare or i can buy one,
my email address is- [email protected]
 
I went to Athelstan House (Junior Remand Home) 232 Moseley Road, Highgate in 1966 from there I went to Bristol then to Tennal School till 1969 I enjoyed Tennal it gave me an education i would never have got at any mainstream school, and I never saw any of the abuse that has been reported even though i knew some of the teachers that were involved, but the upshot was for the first time in my life i got 3 meals a day and showers every day they had their own large swimming pool which i loved i do remember peeling potatoes every morning in that cold shed and the water was freezing. I also used to paint Mr Pengalls lead soldiers i enjoyed doing that so all in all it was a positive experience for me. I found this photograph of the quad at tennal it brings back memoriesTennal School.jpg
 
hi animal ;
glad to hear that you never had the expeiences of the lads before your time there these cases was carried out years before you
these was the early years in life up till about the 1959 -60 period
when all these charactors in tennal was operating with in these walls
but shortly after that period it was when a young lad was in a place called tymawr school abergavenny where he experienced the trouble of abuse by staff ; he was a brummy lad and his parents started the ball off they went to the police and in they went to investigate which was brought to the attention of the brecon council; then the home office ordered an investigation and the south wales police of abergavenny was the first of its kind to start such an investigaion of its kind on these sexual assaults on kids into care it was called operation flight which i now can declare the name as before i could not disclose such info before as it was high security and also it prompted the ladds from tennal whom was also went there and previuosly from tennal as they was classed as obsconders i could mention names to you but under the rules i cannot tell you there names from the periods i am speaking of but i can tell you the last one member of staff from tennal was apprended in the mid sixties and went to jail for a very long time the staff name was mentioniond to me many years ago durin that poeriod and as justice was done when i heard he was arrested and sent to jail
i know the one lad whom suffered more that most was over excited to hear he got justice but during your time nothink was going on there it stopped in the late fifties but since them years the goverment have started another operation in north wales in the last two years because what as been going since
the south wales stopped there investigation about five years ago they travelled far breast of the globe to catch these people te abergavenny police went to america to get people that i can tell you and brought to justice i was only surprized at the time the north wales wasnt included but getting back to tennal it was notorious wih in internal conditions there was a couple of lads whom often scrambled the high walls and transfered to mosely rd remand home
even there was abuse of some kind going on but it appeared the orinional staff had died and escaped the wrath of the law but years later they chnged ir and called atherstone hous a comunity home both the staffthey called themselves
carrers they was the student type s whom allowed the kids to run amoke let them out and smoke druggs and partys the council got wind and closed it down and as been shut down to my kowledge of about thirty or forty years but those members of staff i can presume are all dead that was also in the fifty that the hard type personal was working there i must say i do beleive there is sill alot of them in hiding as old as they are but the strong law willknock on the doors one day just like the other guy from tennal and from the father hudson homes
i still do my follow ups to these homes and schools behind the scenes
and i have got to know these guys they they are older and i know one or two would rather forget about it there times in those homes we have spoke about
well i had better shut up now i could say morebut i better not for the fear of being closed down ;animal you can always em me if you want to talk you may even mention names to me like i could to you but i could not do it on the forum;
take care best wishes Astonian;
 
Re: Tennal School

trying to find information for my father (john nock) who was at Tennal from 1950-56.
 
Re: Tennal School

looking for information for my father (john nock) who was at Tennal from 1950-56.aged 10-16.
 
My first ever girl friend, around 14ys old, was from Shenley Fields home, Weoley Castle, 1961 time, cannot remember her name.paul
 
My father is looking for information on tennal school harborne where he spent 6years from the age of 10 to16 because he wagged school. He was physically and mentally abused, his friends were Roy poyner ,Morley,pegg,grainier,Henry spray he would love to get in touch with any of these men,hopefully they are still with us.please help x
 
My dad went to tennal in the fifties for six years and was physically abused there, he was 10years of age and his looking for old friends who were there with him. I need help in trying to locate these men if still alive
 
Re: Tennal School

My dad is trying to get in touch with lads he went to tennal with he was sent there's when he was ten for six years and was physically abused. Can you help,there names are Roy poyner Henry spray pegg and Morley and grainier these men would be in there seventies now. My dad was the youngest there and was sent there because he kept running away from school. Please help the years he was there were 1950 to 56 thanks
 
Hi john
Just read your your thread of request asked him he recalls a lad by the name of Goldie or taffy whom wasa friend of Goldie
A blonde hair kid whom had two false front teeth at tennal during g the period your father was at this prison like school
As some of the old lads used to refers about there termology of expression was there was a big like search light on the walls
To spot the escapees getting over the wall best wishes astonian
 
Sorry I haven't checked in for a while. Or I would have replied earlier. I remember all of those names .Be good to have a chat.I haven't got MSN. .though
 
Mick you can use the Private (or Instant) Message facility on here to make contact. Left click on the person's name and you will see a pop up menu.
 
hi me again, shocked today to log into my email and see someone answered me about druids heath, i hope other former pupils are still around, keep the emails coming lads, we need a reunion
 
A post has been moved for discussion by the Admin team as it strayed into supposition. This subject touches on aspects that are very sensitive so can everyone post with care please?
 
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