Bad Childhood Memory
A Memory of Fornethy Residential School.
Can't believe I've stumbled on this,I'm now 50,got sent here in the 70's for about 3 weeks,when I got there clothes were removed from my case,no trousers to be worn,it was so strict and not fun at all,humiliating getting showered,no privacy,teachers watched which was so not right,went walks for ten miles and remember a teacher using an outside toilet and making all of us pee outside in front of each other while she watched,sick or perverted,i don't know which?my gran sent me £5 pocket money per week which I never received and was only given 25p on a Saturday for film night,I still have a scar on my chin which I got sliding on tiles in a bathroom and got hit for falling,I was about 9 yrs old,old decrepit heartless dinosaurs,I'll never forget that horrible place
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You were put in a bath on arrival and your head was checked for lice.
At dinner time in one occasion I cut ALL the fat from the meat and pushed it to the side of my plate. The head mistress ( Mrs Bremner) asked what I thought I was doing and stood over me while she insisted I chewed and swallowed all the fat. After wretching constantly I was sick then immediately sent to my dormitory bed ( Ogil dormitory) where a “vice captain” was sent to watch & report to her should I get out of my bed.
We were walked for miles & miles and made to sing songs.
We could write a letter home once a week but the letter was censored before it could be posted.
My mum used to send parcels to me with sweets & comics which were handed out to everyone except me.
I ended up wetting my bed and was stood in front of everyone in my wet pyjamas whilst they were encouraged to mock me.
This place was supposed to be a “ holiday” for me. My dad had just died very suddenly, I was 7yrs old and cried to go home to my mum. I was called a cry baby & spoiled brat by a teacher ( Miss Gemmel ) who one night leathered me with her slipper for crying in my bed.
Six weeks this went on for and then finally my name was read out from the list of those due to go home.
These memories have remained all these years later... I am 62yrs old now. Cruelty beyond belief.
You were put in a bath on arrival and your head was checked for lice.
At dinner time in one occasion I cut ALL the fat from the meat and pushed it to the side of my plate. The head mistress ( Mrs Bremner) asked what I thought I was doing and stood over me while she insisted I chewed and swallowed all the fat. After wretching constantly I was sick then immediately sent to my dormitory bed ( Ogil dormitory) where a “vice captain” was sent to watch & report to her should I get out of my bed.
We were walked for miles & miles and made to sing songs.
We could write a letter home once a week but the letter was censored before it could be posted.
My mum used to send parcels to me with sweets & comics which were handed out to everyone except me.
I ended up wetting my bed and was stood in front of everyone in my wet pyjamas whilst they were encouraged to mock me.
This place was supposed to be a “ holiday” for me. My dad had just died very suddenly, I was 7yrs old and cried to go home to my mum. I was called a cry baby & spoiled brat by a teacher ( Miss Gemmel ) who one night leathered me with her slipper for crying in my bed.
Six weeks this went on for and then finally my name was read out from the list of those due to go home.
These memories have remained all these years later... I am 62yrs old now. Cruelty beyond belief.
You were put in a bath on arrival and your head was checked for lice.
At dinner time in one occasion I cut ALL the fat from the meat and pushed it to the side of my plate. The head mistress ( Mrs Bremner) asked what I thought I was doing and stood over me while she insisted I chewed and swallowed all the fat. After wretching constantly I was sick then immediately sent to my dormitory bed ( Ogil dormitory) where a “vice captain” was sent to watch & report to her should I get out of my bed.
We were walked for miles & miles and made to sing songs.
We could write a letter home once a week but the letter was censored before it could be posted.
My mum used to send parcels to me with sweets & comics which were handed out to everyone except me.
I ended up wetting my bed and was stood in front of everyone in my wet pyjamas whilst they were encouraged to mock me.
This place was supposed to be a “ holiday” for me. My dad had just died very suddenly, I was 7yrs old and cried to go home to my mum. I was called a cry baby & spoiled brat by a teacher ( Miss Gemmel ) who one night leathered me with her slipper for crying in my bed.
Six weeks this went on for and then finally my name was read out from the list of those due to go home.
These memories have remained all these years later... I am 62yrs old now. Cruelty beyond belief.