Hi Sally . I'll never forget st John's! Like you I've never been able to find anyone who knew anything about the place . I was in the locked unit as I was a runaway child . I was put there in around 1970 ish . I'm sure about dates as I was moved around so much as a child .
I remember when the social worker took me from London to St John's into the entrance then left and one of the sisters took me though into the unit with lots of locked gates in-between, then into a hall where all the girls were. I didnt realise how bad it would be . The tennis courts was still there and you had house rooms to eat and some sort of lessons , mainly work on keeping the place clean & paid each week a couple of pounds that you could by stuff once a week at the pop up shop I did end up in lock up a few times that wasn't pleasant . I was beaten black & blue and I defended myself so hence lock up in one of the cells downstairs.
I hated st Jonhs and thought how can they call themselves sisters of mercy. The little red stick that the mother superior always had and used on my head and knuckles many times. I would laugh while it happened and cry in secret . We had a song about St John's. The day I left after two years she gave me an envelope with some money and a train ticket back to London opened the door and that was that. I slept in Euston train station that night then on the streets . Eventually social services paid for a bedsit in seven kings not far from Ilford. I was 15 years old . All the best Rita ( Attard)
