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St. John's Approved School

I found him,I called the Royal pigeon racing association and they gave me the erdington number. To my surprise and joy,he's still flying,lol. Many thanks,oh bob is the store room next to pentlands still there,it was where they sent the naughty nun's. merry Christmas all x

Good, you'll have lots of tales to recall now.

The St John's as you remember was gutted and rebuilt in 1996/7 or there abouts. It became a 100% childrens home, with the new secure unit doing what Pentlands did. After many changes, the whole site is now an administration block.
 
I Know the team that's there now moved from cherry st B'ham to st johns (kingsmere). I remember we did a charity walk on the moors but the weather got so bad we had to end the walk. Gilbert (Edit: nickname) was one of the staff who went with us. We had to wear these old hiking boots and walk the cannels to get us used to walking on the moors. Did they still do the exchange with wolfgang and Jan warner when you was there?. We went to heilgoland it was beautiful island,we learnt the history of it and we learnt how strong German beer was,lol ;-). I remember Mr b used to always give us lines after school,but thanks to his stationary cupboard I learnt what carbon paper was good for :). Even tryed taping three pens together lol. Tc all
 
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i was in st johns for a year 88/89.
my experience was it was terrible, took me years to get over being in there. i only went there because athelstone house school closed down, and was on day care.. i was on aston view on the top floor..
the police visited me ten years after laving then 20 years later investigating a culture of abuse.. not all staff were bad, some were ok, but there was a hard core of troublemakers and abusers.
you mentioned (edit: name removed) did you know he recieved 5 years for abusing boys who were there, its not my words edit:there was an article in birmingham evening mail

.. i ran away as much as possible from sometimes brutal staff who chase you down train tracks. you could half your arm twisted up your back for the slightest word back. there was a punishment system rated on a level system, running away led for 4 days level one which entailed, sitting all day on a chair allowed to talk to nobody, which was impossible and followed by more twisting up and puches where bruises wouldnt show. after several children died while under there supervision they shut it down quite rightly once they realised it helped nobody and made everybody worde who entered there. i can say alot more and have paper clippings and proof. the reason its not on firends reunited is because not many people wish to admit they worked there.
i can remember one asembly where a senior member i will call b as i dont want to slander people pulled out a book of our rights. laughed as he put it into his pockets and said we make our own rules up. eventually my lawyer secured my release. it destroyed the lives of many children who had the misfortune of going there.
i hope this isnt taken down, i have more proof if anyone complains or wishews to celebrate a dark chapter in birminghams history.. (edit ....... the police that punished some of the guilty ............. )
like i said that he worked there, i dont remeber you and am in no way aiming this at you. it is part of brums history, but ive never seen it celebrated, too many lives were ruined. regards, apul
 
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i was in st johns for a year 88/89.
my experience was it was terrible, took me years to get over being in there. i only went there because athelstone house school closed down, and was on day care.. i was on aston view on the top floor..
the police visited me ten years after laving then 20 years later investigating a culture of abuse.. not all staff were bad, some were ok, but there was a hard core of troublemakers and abusers.
you mentioned gilbert, did you know he recieved 5 years for abusing boys who were there, its not my words , here is the link to birmingham evening mail
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/man-jailed-for-abuse-of-children-70729
.. i ran away as much as possible from sometimes brutal staff who chase you down train tracks. you could half your arm twisted up your back for the slightest word back. there was a punishment system rated on a level system, running away led for 4 days level one which entailed, sitting all day on a chair allowed to talk to nobody, which was impossible and followed by more twisting up and puches where bruises wouldnt show. after several children died while under there supervision they shut it down quite rightly once they realised it helped nobody and made everybody worde who entered there. i can say alot more and have paper clippings and proof. the reason its not on firends reunited is because not many people wish to admit they worked there.
i can remember one asembly where a senior member i will call b as i dont want to slander people pulled out a book of our rights. laughed as he put it into his pockets and said we make our own rules up. eventually my lawyer secured my release. it destroyed the lives of many children who had the misfortune of going there.
i hope this isnt taken down, i have more proof if anyone complains or wishews to celebrate a dark chapter in birminghams history... i think it was operation cammasia led by the police that punished some of the guilty, heres another link
https://theneedleblog.wordpress.com...idlands/warwickshire/st-johns-childrens-home/
like i said that he worked there, i dont remeber you and am in no way aiming this at you. it is part of brums history, but ive never seen it celebrated, too many lives were ruined. regards, apul

Hello
I worked at St Johns for 2 years. It had 3 open units and Pentlands, I was there when Pentlands first opened. The headmaster was Ron McKale and the deputy was Pi Colclough. My name is Gerald White and I always did my best to care for the youngsters in St Johns. Best wishes to everyone...Garden Gerald.
 
Hello All.

I lived at St Johns 87-92/93. I remember most of the staff and children there. I adored (almost) each and very member of staff there, faults and all. They looked after me, they saved my life and moulded me into the person am today.

Bob Kendall
Alan Sargent
Ken Gregory
Eamon Duffy
Sandra Trickett
Trevor Minto
David Goodman
Dave Stewart
Debbie Crawshaw
Steve and Richard Gittings
Keithy Jaeger
I could go on and on....

I miss them all dearly. I have managed to find a few of them and thanked them personally. If anyone has any information on anyone that I may know, please point them to here.

Kind Regards
Nina :) xx
 
Good, you'll have lots of tales to recall now.

The St John's as you remember was gutted and rebuilt in 1996/7 or there abouts. It became a 100% childrens home, with the new secure unit doing what Pentlands did. After many changes, the whole site is now an administration block.
 
hello sally

i worked at st johns childrens home gravelly hill north from 1986 - 2000 so well after you were there. it was (and still is) a home for young people on remand, in trouble with the law and also it did have a secure unit there for the most serious offenders.

i heard it was run by nuns in the past and of course it is next door to st mary and st johns catholic church.

it looks like the national archives have some records of the school pre 1950 but they are not available to be seen yet.
i hope you manage to contact some of your friends. all the best

chris
 
Hello All.

I lived at St Johns 87-92/93. I remember most of the staff and children there. I adored (almost) each and very member of staff there, faults and all. They looked after me, they saved my life and moulded me into the person am today.

Bob Kendall
Alan Sargent
Ken Gregory
Eamon Duffy
Sandra Trickett
Trevor Minto
David Goodman
Dave Stewart
Debbie Crawshaw
Steve and Richard Gittings
Keithy Jaeger
I could go on and on....

I miss them all dearly. I have managed to find a few of them and thanked them personally. If anyone has any information on anyone that I may know, please point them to here.

Kind Regards
Nina :) xx
I was there at the same time and remember most of those names
 
Hello
I worked at St Johns for 2 years. It had 3 open units and Pentlands, I was there when Pentlands first opened. The headmaster was Ron McKale and the deputy was Pi Colclough. My name is Gerald White and I always did my best to care for the youngsters in St Johns. Best wishes to everyone...Garden Gerald.
I remember Mr McKale, Mr B, Gil Lewis and Mrs Colclough very well. I wish I could leave a link here for a book but you'll just have to look for Eskay Teel on amazon. It's an autobiography and features A LOT about St Johns and some of the people and. of course, the kids (of which I was one).
 
Hello Everyone
I have read these posts today and they disgust me Who else was taken to court from St Johns. Best wishes, Garden Gerald.
The case that you're referring to was just one... but another member of staff was found guilty of stealing a pen! which I found hysterical!
Goodness knows what the pen was made of. Having shared that info... I must also add that I have utmost respect and fond memories for a lot of staff in St. Johns... Mr McKale especially. Look up Eskay Teel on amazon to see a new autobiography which has LOTS about St Johns' in it. Most likely, you'll recognise the people even though all the names have been changed.
 
I was 13 when I was in st johns I was in red lands unit it was not a nice place I remember Paul Jones and Mr b we also had a dance teacher that made us do strange things to music unison movement it was called I was always trying to abscond always looking around for a little blue commer van with 6 white dots on the side the head of st johns was Mr colclough his son at the time played for england rugby Maurice colclaugh I hated some of the staff for reasons that cannot be aired but there were one or two good staff anyone wishing to contact me regarding st johns please do so oh and I must mention edit: one of the staff who had me face down a few times in back of van with my arms up my back lol
 
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You were there when I was there Gerald did you do the moors walk and the holiday in Germany Helgoland in fact remember the song that came out was hands up lol and we went to France too
 
I was made to sit for days not allowed to interact they used to come out at CIG time with a box and your cigs had your name on and they used to give you one unless you were on bad behaviour then you went without I suffer now 40 years on for me it was a bad place
 
Staff I remember and sadly one member of staff who suddenly died when I was there
Paul Jones
Gil lewis ( bum fluff )
Mr b
Malcolm east
James smith ( mr gum)
And the Scotsman who was a member of staff for a short time who sadly passed whilst there can't remember his name but a real nice fella non the less
 
Hi all,I would just like to say a thank you Jim for all your help with this site.I was in St johns chs in late 70s early 80s. I remember be taken up the drive and walking in that big front door,if you went left at the door there was a massive walk way with mesh above your head. Then if you went to the left was kitchen and unit called redlands,but if you went right there was adoor to the back of the building and when you go though that door, on the left was pentlands(secure unit 4beds. But just at the side of pentlands there was a door which went some steps,when I asked what the home was before I was told about the nuns and that little room below was where they sent when naughty. On the back wall was marks of days and other writing. It was astore cupboard when st johns was a chs. I remember them gates,and I can't believe they took tennis courts away and pulled down woodsong all for new secure unit. Which is now not in use. Always remember Mr b and Jones. I went back to visit afew times. I have aphoto of the main entrance but haven't aclue how to load to this site. Any help would be grateful,I'm not to good with computers lol. Take care all.
I also remember that. I herd it's all closed down now. Not sure but there was a big investigation in edit: one of the staff and edit: one of the staff in pentlands.
 
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