I have come across several accounts of children who tried to run away from Craig-y-nos, were caught and punished.
But only one who actually succeeded.
In fact she was a young woman. Her "escape" was remarkably easy: she simply walked out with the visitors and caught the bus home, a journey that took several hours and across the mountain range of the Brecon Beacons.
But it was dangerous thing to do because if you ran away then doctors would refuse to treat you. In the case of Eileen Hill though the doctor ignored the regulations and continued to treat her.
My 2,000 words a day regime is slipping – instead of 7.30am it is nearer 8.30am before I switch on the computer. Still we are getting there..
For relaxation I trawl through some of the other blogs on this site and I am fascinated to read the ones from Glasgow School of Art as they prepare for their degree show.
Seven years ago that was me.
I have received over 1,000 images for my internet based community project "Children of Craig-y-nos", photos taken mainly by children using Brownie box cameras as they recorded their experiences of life inside a TB sanatorium some 50 years ago.
This is one such image, of a young girl, Ann Williams, also known as "Ann on Blocks" because her bed was raised on 12 inch blocks, who had tamed a wild bird which she fed daily from her balcony bed.
BBC request 500 words on project update to tie in with the news item that we have been given a £5,000 Welsh Heritage Lottery grant.
How do you know when an internet based community project works?
Well, when you start getting e-mails from people saying the project has helped them talk about their childhood experiences and to bring out into the open a social disease that was once regarded as taboo.
It is as if the simple decision to bring those repressed memories out acts as a liberating experience from that childhood trauma which so many of us experienced.
I was reminded of this yesterday when I got another e-mail:
“Great news about the lottery funding. am pleased for you as you have worked so hard, but the most important thing to come out of it all has been the fact that you have helped patients meet up once again, it has also been therapeutic for many of us. I shall look forward to the exhibition in Swansea.” – Beryl.”
Looking through all my research notes I find several from people who say it is too painful to talk about , except for a brief email or phone call -even after half a century.
This has been the most astonishing fact to come out of the project: that there exists so many people within the community with unspoken about grief from a time when the emotional needs of children were never acknowledged.
Another woman has done an entire in-depth interview on email -because she can’t bring herself to talk, even on the phone, about those traumatic experiences of her childhood over 50 years ago.
