Monday, January 15, 2007

Craig-y-nos letters from the 1930s

Have just had an e-mail from John S. Batts in Australia to say that the letters written by his distant relative, Horace Batts, in the 1930s are now in the Powys County Archives at Llandrindod Wells.
Horace was his father's first cousin and the letters were written to his family in Hay. He died at Craig-y-nos in his late 20s.
John deposited these letters in the archives last August so I should be able to see them when I am in Wales next week.

He says the letters speak of:" a prison-like atmosphere and the footling ( and wrong-headed!) rules under which the place was administered."
He adds:"I was struck by the needless, additional suffering which that hospital regime imposed upon its patients ( and their relatives)."

No comments: