with little contact for the outside world,
self sufficient, with its farms and shops.
Jobs passed down, from each generation,
like the madness they served,
a hereditary thing, to pass on and marry within
Even the chimney was reduced in size
as if too majestic to serve its empire,
an empire that grew, to protect the vulnerable, the meek, the wild, the ones society locked away.
Out of sight, out of mind, only to resurface, when society cried,
the community cares, ''LET THEM OUT'.
And once out, they went back to their apathy,
their conscience clear, a deed well done.
So out they are, lonely and vulnerable,
sleeping in boxes, without shoes or socks, confused by society's reaction and indifference,
While the cosy asylum rots away. S.M. 2001.
Mental illness has always been a taboo subject and old asylums, like the Deva Hospital, were institutions that societies demanded, but wished to forget.
The author writes with authority, a blend of fact and fiction, an insight into the problems endured by staff behind the locked doors, and the despair of patients without hope, incarcerated in the 'system', cared for but stripped of their dignity and, inevitably, their will to ever again lead a normal life.
One such patient was Charlie, an unfortunate victim of circumstance, whose story is typical of what went on. Should he have been committed in the first place? Would he ever get out, or was he destined to be just another stastistic..out of sight, out of mind?
A highly personal story, poignant and occasionally disturbing, This book also serves as an invaluable record....an unofficial account, but nonetheless thought provoking. ISBN: 0 949001 18 X
West Cheshire Hospital 1949-1963.
Picture shows the old male wards, M I and M 9.(upper building) Water tower and chimney taken from Parkgate road, Chester.
