Chapter 2

Childhood and schooldays

I was born in 1939, in Jupp's Road in the East End of London. My father, Edward George Ferris, was married twice. He had ten children in his first family. His first wife died, and he married my mother, Phyllis Storey. I was the fourth child of 17 from dad's second family! There were a lot of us, 27 altogether, and 24 what lived.

I didn't know it at the time but I found out from records that I was born before the midwife could get to the house and I fell on the floor. Then I had pneumonia when I was six months old, so I didn't get a very good start in life. I also know from records that I was put into residential nurseries when my mother was having more children. Then the Women's Voluntary Services for Civil Defence came round to see about evacuation for me because of the war and the bombs falling on London. They thought I was very small and because I wasn't talking they thought I was, in their words, a 'mental defective'. I was three years old.

The Women's Voluntary Sevices people arranged for me to see a doctor at the Maudsley Hospital on 18th March, 1943. I know this from records. The doctor said I needed 'care and protection' and I was taken to the Fountain Hospital in Tooting the same day, at my parents' wish. They were charged two shillings for the transport to get me there. At the time, everyone said I would stay there just till the war was over and then I'd go home. But I didn't.

I've been away all my life, from home, since I was three years old. I went to the Fountain Hospital which was for people with learning difficulties, which is what they thought I was. My parents said I couldn't walk, or whatever. They said they wouldn't come and get me there, I wouldn't be able to come home, or they wouldn't come and see me any more. That was depressing. I used to cry when I had to go away from home at weekends. I've got used to it. I've grown out of that now.

An old black and white image of Gloria as a young girl

At the Fountain, I was on a ward with other children. There was children with learning difficulties, some in wheelchairs and some of them had Down's Syndrome, or 'mongols' as they used to call them in those days. It's a horrible name. I remember some of the staff. One of the sisters was called Sister Beattie, I don't know her surname. She was a friend. I used to go for tea every weekend on to the next ward and I enjoyed it being there. She was really nice. There was other people there that I knew as well. A lot of the residents from there went on to St Lawrence's like me. Some of the wheelchair people went there and some went to Queen Mary's Hospital in Carshalton.

I quite liked it there because I used to go to the Broadwater School, a special school in Tooting. The teacher used to come and pick us up and bring us back on the tram. They didn't have school on the inside, they had school on the outside so I didn't miss out. I had quite good schooling. As much as I would have liked to go to a normal school, but my parents said I was backward. I learnt to read, write, tell the time, the main things. I mean, I don't know how they managed to say that I couldn't walk, I'm doing that now! They said I couldn't be left on my own, but I could be left on my own and they wouldn't know I was there. You know, I was quite contented to be on my own, quite happy left on my own and doing things with my hands. I do quite a lot of things now that I've not done before.

I was at the Fountain from when I was three until I was 13. I was there till then, then I had to leave the hospital and go to a boarding school, which was called Palingswick House. My parents used to come and see me sometimes at weekends. My father mostly came and my sisters. My mother did come. She used to buy me things that I could do, like scrapbooks and cards. I used to collect them, cut them out and stick them in. Palingswick House was a special school for girls. It was quite a big house in Hammersmith. It was very good, I mean, we used to go to the pictures, learn cooking, things like that. You used to have to wear a uniform, it was grey and white. There were dormitories and some of the girls used to try and get down, out of the window, and slide down the drainpipe. I suppose they thought they wanted to get out. I didn't do it though. It was probably hot in the dormitory, or they must have thought it was fun. I would never tell on them. It was their problem. If they wanted to get out, they'd get out. If they got caught they got caught.

An old black and white image of Gloria as a young girl

It was quite nice at Palingswick. We went out at weekends. One of the days the family came. It was one Saturday, when we got back from the pictures. They were outside the school gates. It was one of my sisters and I'm not sure if it was my dad with her or my mum. I don't remember many of the teachers now. I know there was one who used to teach us ballroom dancing. You had to count 1-2-3, 1-2-3, that's for waltzing. I quite enjoyed that too. I can't remember if they did any other things, teaching us things other than the main things, the things we needed to learn. I can't remember a lot of the things which they did. I can't remember what happened up there apart from going to bed and getting up and learning.

When I left school at 15 I went home for a while and stayed about two years. The family were then living in Exmouth Street in Stepney. The records said it was a slum: dark, smelly and overcrowded. It's true, it was an awful place. When the schools were open and the kids would go to school, I used to have free school dinners. I went to the Elder Girls Craft Centre in Hackney some of the time. I quite liked it there.

My family were poor. They couldn't manage. I think mum was a housewife and looked after the children. She was more like me to look at. She was ordinary, not much taller than me. I didn't really have much to do with her as I was always away. Dad was tall, he used to be a stoker. He was in the army before that when he was young. I suppose he retired from the army and then he was a stoker according to my birth certificate. Dad was 78 when he died, his mind was going back. My father was one of the best. I was closer to him though I've never really been at home. I used to sit in his chair when he was out and get out of it when he came home.

Even now there's a chair at home which I always sit in. Just like dad, he had his own chair, his own particular chair where he always sat. And I sat in it when he was out and then when he came home I'd get up and let him sit there. He was lovely. He was a bit strict with the children. Theresa remembers when my other sister, Julia, came home from school, or in the mornings when she was getting ready for school, she'd be quarelling or something else, bullying, and mum said "It's not fair!" Theresa said that dad would tell her off. It was something children do when they are at that age. But I didn't grumble. It's funny you know, when you go back and try to think of things. I like them all, I mean they're family and I'm past all that sort of thing. I've forgotten it. I enjoy being with them now they're grown up. They got married, everyone got married, and they've got children of their own.

An old black and white image of Gloria with her sisters

When I was at home, though, my sisters were always bossing me about even though they were younger than me. I don't know how or why they did, but they suggested I go away, be put away somewhere. Not that I really wanted to because people stare at you when you first go into these places. I have quite often said "What are you staring at?" It was my half-sister, Caroline, or 'Carrie' as we call her, who had me put away. Whenever I went over home she'd come and see me and then she'd see dad, and she'd say I was always doing something when I was supposed to be there for a holiday or for a weekend. Because my sisters were younger than I was, they'd probably tell tales, that I should be doing this or doing that. You see, I was always making tea or making beds. I mean I don't mind in some ways, they were much younger than me. Whenever they needed anything I'd go and get it for them because they weren't allowed in the pub as they were too young. Things like crisps.

That's when I went to County Hall. I had to go to County Hall to see the consultant. There was another chap there, he was blind, he came in at the same time. I said I wanted to go back to the Fountain but mum said she wouldn't come and see me there - but she never came to see me anyway. I was 17, I think I was probably past the age of going back to the Fountain Hospital. It had to be St Lawrence's.

Chapter 3 - Life at St Lawrence's

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