03 EDWARD SHORT summary

Start of DVCPro Tape 01 of 04 – VHS Tape 01 of 01            01:00:38:24 - 02:00:02:01
 
Earliest memories
Born January 1921 in Stokeshall, Portsmouth, England. Went to Floren Bolane (?) school and Howardser (?) Street School.  Worked from age 14 in a dry cleaners and later in a brewery.  Joined the Navy in 1938/9.  Had one brother.  Father died following the first world war.  Brought up by mother who was totally blind and by the grandmother. Describes everyday chores of shopping, chopping wood, weighing coal. 
 
Schooldays
Infant school at Floren Bolane (or Flyenwell Lane?) then onto Conway Street school.  Went there with his brother.  About 35 pupils in a class, all boys.  Lived in a working class area of Rudmore, Portsmouth.  Describes nicknames given by adults and children to people known to be in the local asylum.
 
Leaving school ambitions and life in the Navy from 1938/9
Went to Russia and Malta with the Navy.  Describes being torpedoed when one man was killed  out of 2,500.  Then taken to Gibraltar and onto Malawi and back to the UK.  Joined HMS Eagle and torpedoed - 600 men killed. Given survivors leave then joined HMS Argus.  Went to Russia and North Africa and back to UK where he ended up in hospital.
 
First experience of hospital
Aged 22yrs, in hospital in  Kinglsey, Aberdeen.  Had married and had one son.  Was invalided and went to a civilian hospital in Garlochnatosh in Scotland.  Given deep sleep treatment.  Then went to Collairne, given deep insulin treatment.  Told he would be transferred home to St.James’ hospital in Portsmouth. 
 
Marriage
Saw son once as a baby in Scotland but never seen since. Describes how wife left him in hospital, and how he has tried all his life to see and make contact with his son again. 
 
Blitz in Portsmouth and first experience of hospital
Jan 10th 1941 - incendiary bombs dropped on Portsmouth.  Ted in barracks at time in  Portsmouth, and helped carry wounded to the Royal Portsmouth Hospital.  Mentions Ark Royal and being in Glasgow.  Joined the Ark Royal and journeys to the Mediterranean - then joined HMS Eagle which was torpedoed there with the loss of 900 men.  Describes joining Argus and more experience of warfare, then went to North Africa where his ship was hit and Ted found himself in a psychiatric hospital in Kingsley, Aberdeen, Scotland.
 
First experience of psychiatric hospital
Oct. 6th 1943 - Ted invalided out first to hospital in Scotland then to St. James’ in Portsmouth.  Admitted as a war patient.  Given ECT treatment unmodified.  Describes symptoms of deep depression and people’s reactions to his crying and anxiety.
 
01:31:43:07
Marriage and Divorce
Divorced by his wife.  Describes the process where his wife had several witnesses and he had only one.  Ted not given any custody or access rights to his son due to different court rulings in Scotland to England. Describes lack of understanding of his situation by his wife.
 
Hospital life in Scotland
Describes being given clothing to wear in hospital - ‘hospital blues’ provided by the Ministry of Defence for war disabled persons.  Describes shell shock disorder - neuroscenic (sic - neurasthenic) disorder.  Given various diagnoses including psychoneurosis, anxiety state, schizophrenia.   Describes modified and deep insulin treatment and deep sleep treatment for six week periods.  Describes ECT treatment being given to him ‘straight’ - and the fear this gave him. Given between 28 and 30 treatments of ECT in all.  Briefly talks about rights to refuse treatment nowadays.
 
An average day in St. James’ Hospital, Portsmouth
Describes leisure activities - snooker, shove ha’penny, billiards. Also about chores he did in hospital - cleaning floors, making beds, having cups of tea.  Then talks about going for walks and being on ‘ground parole’ and ‘town parole’.  Describes breakfast, dinner and supper times.  Talks about locked and open wards.
 
Integration between men and women in St.James’ hospital
Ted became the Chair of Integration.  Describes the meetings held and to what extent male and female patients were allowed to mix including official restrictions on sleeping together. 
 
Doreen
Ted describes his friendship with a woman called Doreen, a patient of St. James’.  The staff warn him off her and he talks of how the situation was for him.  Doreen then committed suicide.   
 
Integration and rules , staff and patients in St. James’ 
The integration of men and women patients began in 1960’s.  Ted describes having parties with booze.  Talks about the orderlies and visits to the pub.  Says that 90% of staff lived outside the hospital and were married. 
 
St. James’ Hospital grounds and social facilities
Describes the grounds, fields, vegetable plots, cricket pitch and football.  Also the sports between the staff and other hospitals and the sports uniforms worn.   The hospital had a social hall and dance hall.  Describes various forms of entertainment there including dances, musicals, and comedy films shown in the cinema.
 
St. James’s Hospital farm
Ted describes the hospital farm and jobs that patients had to do.  Also describes a particular event in the greenhouse with a staff member whilst Ted was gardening, which led to his lifelong interest in gardening. 
 
End of DVCPro Tape 01 – VHS Tape 01 of 01
 
 
Start of DVCPro Tape 02 – VHS Tape 01 of 01                         02:00:52:15 – 03:03:28
 
Green Fingers gardening project - St. James’ Hospital Portsmouth
Following the incident in the greenhouse, Ted goes on to describe how when he left the hospital he was invited to help start up Green Fingers project at the hospital.  He explains being paid £300 for the work he put in at the hospital during the years 1978 or 1979. 
 

Memories of other patients and visitors of the hospital
Ted had no visitors, as his wife had left him.  Ted asked by charge nurse to make another patient’s bed - who was a well known person in Portsmouth at the time.  Ted also brought Guinness for him.  Describes a mix of patients including school masters, people with disabilities, alcoholics and homosexuals.  Description of George - a patient who had been in prison and could not read or write whom Ted got involved in the social club. 
 
Attitudes towards homosexuals
Ted describes the attitudes towards homosexuals, and how it was then a criminal offence for which people had to have a psychiatric assessment.  Talks about homosexuals and lesbians within the psychiatric and medical professions. 
 
Alcoholics
Ted describes a friend of his whom he chooses to call Bill - not his real name.  Explains that Bill was having many difficulties, which Ted helped him with via suggesting Bill contact the Royal Navy Benevolent Fund.  Ted explains that Bill was then murdered and how Ted had to answer questions from the police about his death  Ted describes how Bill’s son’s behaviour had affected Bill.
 
Other patients in St. James’ Hospital and attitudes towards people in hospital
Ted mentions school teachers, drug addicts.  Also about famous people including Harry Secombe who was a patient at the same time as Ted.  Talks about private wards.    Talks about other people’s attitudes and the language used in relation to this, Eg. Nutter, fruitcake etc. 
 
Ted’s gardening
Ted talks about how his garden was televised and on the news, and photographed. St. James’s helped to teach him how to garden.  How he got a job with the Navy with the Admiralty and the screening process that workers were meant to go through - describes some detail about the Christine Keeler Act and Profumo and about homosexuality in relation to the screening.  Ted got a his first gardening job as a head gardener in the 1960’s when he was about 40-50yrs old.
 
Industrial and Occupation Therapy at St. James’s Hospital
Work making plastic bins, carpentry, painting, knitting and the closure of Industrial therapy.
 
Ted - a funny story about the hospital
Ted decides to break into the hospital one summer when he was no longer a patient - to the amusement of staff!  Ted was described as ‘one of the best patients’ by the staff.
 
02:29:07:01
Violence in the hospital and hospital restraints on patients
Ted describes some violent incidents but says it was not a common feature.  Explains that patients were drugged up, observed and behaviour logged.   Memories of strait jackets and buckets of water being chucked over patients during the 1960’s or late 1950’s and wet towels being used.  Talks of staff apparently glorifying in violence towards patients. 
 
Padded cells  
Talks of a patient called Sarapash who was Persian and put in a padded cell after trying to commit suicide.  Ted found a cut-throat razor in his locker.  Sarapash returned to his own country and eventually the patients were told that he had committed suicide there.
Possessions allowed and disallowed in  hospital - open and locked wards, privacy
Describes being under close observation and how there is now only one observation ward at St. James, the rest all being open wards. Some patients would be shaved or washed if considered suicidal.  A big communal bathroom, some patients allowed to bath themselves other times nurses wash patients.  Some patients had a lot of privacy but some didn’t. 
 
Sunday Football Team
Ted shows photograph of the Sunday football team in Portsmouth.  Run the club with Ron and was very successful.  There are four brothers in the team who had been patients in St. James’, whom eventually commit suicide - all four of them. The brothers had a genetic illness.
 
Ted’s mother
Ted describes his mother who was blind . Ted made a special garden for her which became famous in Hampshire.  Ted describes the numerous visitors to the garden and his mother’s reaction to them.  Then Ted’s mother dies suddenly with nurses nearby all attempting to help. Ted talks of his love for this mother. Ted begins to describe a secret that his mother told his wife and the difficulties this caused.
 
Ted’s relatives
All Ted’s relatives except one have died.  His mother died aged 98 yrs in about 1994.  She visited him once at St. James’s - which was organised by a staff member - who was the sister of the late actor John Le Mesurier.  Ted describes how his mother coped with her blindness, how she cooked etc.  Ted uses the garden to bring visitors and the public to his mother 
 
Ted’s involvement with other patients and Tyrwhit House
Ted has friends all over the country. Talks of how nursing staff say he would have made a good nurse, he talks about how he listens and talks to other patients.  Ted describes Tyrwhit House - a place for psychiatric patients who have been in the war. 
 
Pension
Ted gets a 50% pension - describes how a decision was based upon a medical visit to his home.  Talks of how the war disabled are forgotten by this country.  Says that mental illness doesn’t go away and that is far worse than losing an arm or leg. 
 
Views of psychiatric hospital when Ted was young
Ted  believed as a young child that going to a psychiatric hospital meant that one would be there forever - which did happened. Front gates of the hospital were locked before the war.
 
Locked gates of the hospital
The hospital had a manned gate, with a master key. Ted describes going out for a tea or pint.
 
End of DVCPro Tape 02 – VHS Tape 01 of 01                        
 


Start of DVCPro Tape 03 – VHS Tape 01 of 01                         03:00:31:17 – 04:05:07
 
Funny anecdotes about St. James’
Ted starts a funny tale about patients who believe they are Napoleon or Hitler, but cannot remember the whole story.  Then tells a story about a joke between patients about the colour of billiard balls.  Ted re-tells the story of breaking into the hospital and of the humour and esprit de corps amongst patients. 
 
Tyrwhit House
Ted and other friends organise a collection for the Hastings Royal Navy Club branch to buy a standard - and collected over £100.  From this they were all offered free life membership.  Pays a tribute to Tyrwhit House.  Explains that he first went there for rehabilitation in about 1989 and usually for a total of 6 weeks a year.  Praises the staff, food and accommodation.  There used to be more trips out, but now the organisation doesn’t have enough money to do this.  There are no doctors on the premises.  The house helps with domestic, financial and other problems.  Staffed by a qualified charge nurse, lots of love and care there and freedom.
 
Living situation now 
Ted lives with his brother, who is not well.  Ted does all his own shopping, gets taxis, tries to continue doing all normal daily tasks. In hospital meals all provided, but not so now that it is for day patients.  Ted did not find the transition difficult from hospital to home as he was trained in the Royal Navy and can cook and grow food etc.  Says that other patients might find it difficult.  Ted has only had help at home from the Royal Navy who helped with money and physical things. 
 
Ted’s education and the Navy
Ted’s brother was a good sportsman.  Ted did household chores as a child, missing out on education due to helping his mother.  Ted could read and write and spell but got most of his education from the Navy.  Feels he is better orally than on paper. Describes an incident on ship when he mistook a fish for a submarine telescope! So was advised to wear glasses.  Ted and brother went to Sunday school where the brother did very well on Biblical knowledge.  Ted was self-taught and learnt how to garden from people who were older, jokes about not knowing Latin or Greek names for plants etc.
 
Entering the hospital
Ted describes entering St. James’ hospital through big iron gates which was locked all day.  Then describes entering the hospital through a circular, revolving door.  Following this a doctor or nurse would meet you on the ward, who would unlock the ward to let the patient in, where the patient would stay until let out into another ward.
03:29:00:22
 
First impressions of the wards
Very depressing, eventually wards re-painted in different colours.  Wooden floors, no lino.  Talks of having to wash-up, make own bed, clean the ward up. 
 
Cigarettes and money and alcohol
Cigarettes, given as reward for working on the ward. Later payment of about £6 per week for working in greenhouses.  Money banked by the hospital.  Otherwise money would be stolen or mislaid by patient.  Special smoking areas, but now no smoking on wards. Hospital shop sold cigarettes.  Alcohol only allowed if moderate and if patient went out for it.
Sectioning and wards and villas at St. James’
Ted never sectioned, says that sectioned patients usually sent to other hospitals e.g. Park Royal.  St. James’ catered for nervous breakdowns, but also for schizophrenics and paranoid.  Patients observed to see which ward was suitable.  Recalls names of wards and villas.
 
Hospital food
Originally hospital farm provided meat and vegetables.  But later replaced by tinned food.
 
Medication
Ted had 30 lots of ECT.  Sleep treatment, intramuscular and intravenous sleep treatment, modified insulin, modified and deep narcosis treatments. Phenobarbitone and Dalmane.
 
Hospital grounds
Restful hospital grounds.  Hospital trips to the harbour, Southsea, the canal and seafront. 
Ted not keen on the sea and preferred the countryside.
 
Ted’s gardening and work as a storekeeper
Head gardener for Fraser Gallery range, with good money, until it was closed down, he transferred to Ballerford where he worked as head storekeeper.  In 1998 Ted went to The Portsmouth Command guns crew  for a show at Earls Court.
 
Gardening prizes
Won various prizes for gardening, locally and nationally.  Met royalty and gives his views on various royal family members and his visit to Buckingham Palace.  Has photos of various celebrities.  Also met Lord Mayor of Portsmouth.  Ted trying to educate the public about mental illness and to promote psychiatric nursing via his meetings with famous people.
 
Views on Community Care and Day Centres
Ted gives his views against community care - he disagrees with.  Promotes psychiatric nursing.
Describes his experiences of day centre in about 1996 and how it didn’t suit him. 
 
Trip to Salisbury
Ted describes a day trip taken in recent years with patients from St. James’s to Salisbury and entertaining people by playing the bones with another playing the mouth organ. 
 
End of DVCPro Tape 04 – VHS Tape 01 of 01
 
 
Start of DVCPro Tape 04 – VHS Tape 01 of 01                         04:00:35:21 – 04:42:54
 
Psychiatric nursing
Nurses came from different hospitals - the Royal and the Queen Alexandra to learn part of psychiatric medicine.
 
Hospital activities for patients and holidays
Occupational therapy and Industrial therapy - where patients earned money.  Holidays to Hailing Island and the Isle of Wight provided, coach trips for shopping - Ted preferred to have a pint.
 
Educating people about hospital life - and social activities
Patients involved in inviting school teachers to see how patients ran their own wards and to get teachers to educate their pupils about the hospital.   Held snooker championships and lots of dancing. Talks about language used such as ‘funny farm’. Ted has given lots of talks about the subject to Churches, the Salvation Army and the British Legion.
 
Patients at St. James’
Ted describes the humour of a situation when a patient attempted suicide unsuccessfully.  Also talks of tragedies and the genuine people he found in the hospital. Talks of a patient with post natal depression who was a doctor.
 
Outsider’s reactions to having been a patient in St. James’
Ted describes the situation with the drug scene and people going into clinics.  Ted describes how he is open about having been a patient to everyone he meets and how he has no time for people who use euphemisms for St. James’. 
 
Psychiatric drug treatment
Ted talks about his own experiences with tablets which made him feel like a zombie. Says medication is needed, but that the talking programme is the best form of treatment. Now taking Temazepan and has much trouble sleeping.  Still suffers from dreams of drowning related to traumatic war experiences and gets flashbacks. 
 
Ted’s interest in psychiatric nursing
Told he would make a good nurse, and would like to have gone into psychiatric nursing but not allowed to.  Talks of hopes to finish his book called from Integration to Propagation.  Talks of the humour amongst himself and the nurses and how fantastic the hospital was to him.  Talks about nurses disagreeing with community care and criticises day centres.
 
Life now
Enjoys gardening, Sky TV, household chores, goes to the British Legion for lunch and a pint.  Enjoys the pub.  Has trouble with his leg and emphysema.  Describes a wide range of music he enjoys from Bach to the Beatles.  Describes the joy of when television first came and how he has now got a colour TV and video - enjoys history, sport, animal and adventure programmes.
 
Ted’s experiences on TV and radio
Ted was filmed for TV with his garden for the fiftieth anniversary of the war, when street parties were held.  Also interviewed for the radio when at Tyrwhit House.
 
Saddest and happiest moments
Losing his wife and his mother, and the four brothers who committed suicide.  Best achievement described as doing his garden as an appreciation for mental nursing.  Talks about Green Fingers project - brief discussion with crew about what time we would go there.
 
Photographs
1944 - of Ted whilst in St. James’ while under ECT treatment
1943 - HMS Eagle a year before she was sunk
1942 - HMS Ark Royal - sunk by torpedo
1970 - Star Athletic Football Team - the first division Sunday team
1971 - Ted as head gardener of Fraser Gallery Range
1992 - Portsmouth and Southsea in Bloom
1996 - Clarence House
Photo with Cilla Black (entertainer)
Photo - Tyrwhit House, Leatherhead
1989 - Ted’s front garden at 56 Talbot Road, Southsea -won first prize
1985 - Black and white photo of 56 Talbot Road
 
Medals
War Medal -  1939-44
War Medal -  for Russian convoys in 1941 and 1942
Atlantic Medal
Victory Medal - North African with bar and the end of the war 1939/45
 
Badges
Royal British Legion Portsmouth set
Summerland - from the British Legion, Canada - Ted is honorary member
Royal Navy badge
HMS Ganges - badge from when Ted did his boy’s training
 
Trips to Green Fingers project at St. James’ hospital on day of recording
Filming of Green Fingers project as it is in 1999.  Ted describing various aspects of it - what is grown, the plants and vegetables and how patients are involved in it.  Also how this began Ted’s career in gardening.
 
 
End of DVC Pro Tape 04 of 04 – End of VHS Tape 01 of 01
 
 
INTERVIEW ENDS