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From a Gazette report of February 6, 2006
FORMER war correspondent Kate Adie has paid a visit to Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted to film part of a new BBC documentary exploring the lives of adopted and abandoned children.
Children at the foundling hospital in the 1930s | Ashlyns School, or the Foundling Hospital as it was formerly, plays a key part in the news reporter’s latest book, Nobody’s Child.
Kate, who was adopted as a child, visited the school last summer for research and returned again to interview a former foundling Bert Bunt about his childhood memories of the Foundling Hospital for the special documentary.
Mr Bunt, 78, who now lives in Kent, spent seven years at the hospital in Berkhamsted from the age of 7 to 14-years-old and recalls a brutal regime.
This statue stood i the grounds of the hospital, but had to be moved because of vandalism | He said: “I was one of the original foundlings that were marched up the hill from Berkhamsted Station. It was a horrible life. We weren’t allowed to go to talk to anyone outside the hospital. I never learnt anything about Berkhamsted.
“One thing I can remember is that if they had ever awarded a gold medal for using the cane, then the headmaster would have won it every year!”
He added that although the physical scars had healed, he could never forgive the fact his identity was taken away from him as a child.
He said: ”They took my name away and gave me the name Bert. It left a lot of scars. We never had any love and I can’t show any. I can’t even cuddle my grandchildren because I don’t know how.”
A painting of Thomas Coram | Ashlyns School building dates back to 1926, but its history dates back as far as 1740 when a retired sea captain, Thomas Coram, was granted a Royal Charter to set up the first foundling hospital at Lamb’s Conduit Fields in Bloomsbury, London.
Coram, a great philanthropist, was appalled by the numbers of abandoned homeless children in London and despite Burt’s memories of the harsh regime the foundation was started with the intention of saving the lives of hundreds of children.
Regarded as one of the world’s oldest charities, the composer Handel donated money from a performance of Messiah to aid the foundation.
In 1926 the London site was sold for £2 million and a new hospital built at Ashlyns, completed in 1935.
The county council took over the school part of the hospital in 1951 and the Thomas Coram Foundation boarders were phased out by 1955 and the building was sold to Herts County Council.
Mr Bunt left the hospital in 1942 aged 14, joined the army and has only returned once to Ashlyns in 1999 when he vowed never to return.
He said: “I thought it looked a state when I visited in 1999 compared to when I was there. Then when I came back to the school again it looked so much better. The new headmaster, Richard Dalziel, has transformed it again. When we drove up the drive it really was like going back to what it was like before.”
Anne Barnes, PA to the headmaster at Ashlyns said the visit had gone very well and both Kate Adie and Bert, were keen to speak to the pupils.
She said: “Kate Adie was very happy to stop and chat. Those that spoke to her were quite surprised by the history of the building and what Bert had to go through, because now times are very different. They couldn’t imagine not having any of their own possessions or toys, it was quite an education.”
Ms Adie signed copies of her book, Nobody’s Child, which are on display in the school library.
The BBC documentary, Found, is due to be aired in May.
The Old Coram Associates is holding a reunion at the school on Saturday, May 13 open to all who attended the school between 1951-1955 when the foundlings and local children were at the school together.
Tickets for the event cost £10 each and include lunch.
For more information and tickets contact Ivy Silk on 01442 871937 or Sandra Jenkins at the school on 01442 863605. | 