Child's plaster bed- Craig-y-nos

Roy Harry with Linda Delves and the plaster cast belonging to a relative

Here's a medical curiosity: how many people would recognize this cast as that belonging to a child with TB?

It was found in the attic of one Swansea family and Linda Delve rang me wondering what to do with it.

It belonged to her aunt Margaret Scott who was in Craig-y-nos as a toddler in the early 1940s. She was sent home as a five year old with the plaster cast and told to sleep in it every night.

Her aunt has since died.

Linda hopes to interest Swansea museum in adding it to their collection for
TB was rife in the Welsh valleys and many children spent years lying motionless in such contraptions.

Meanwhile, if you come to our book launch on Friday, May 1st, at Craig-y-nos Castle you will be able to see the plaster cast for it will be on display for a day.

Craig-y-nos - 2 nights as Christmas present!

Patricia Stickler ( nee Moore) tells me she will be staying at Craig-y-nos Castle this week.


"My husband and I will be staying at the hotel for April 29/30 as a Christmas gift from my daughter, who is a dog fanatic. Just before Christmas she found one of the dog trust sites auctioning two nights at Craig-y-nos donated by the hotel and thought it would be an ideal present -or not???

Anyway, her partner stayed up all night to successfully bid for it.

I did have mixed feelings but when I heard of your book launch I decided to go ahead."


I look forward to meeting you Patricia, especially since we seemed to have been next to each other in bed some 50 years ago!

"Tied to the bed, in a straitjacket" - Joan, age 8, 1948

Just when you think you have heard all the stories about Craig-y-nos yet another new one pops into my email box.

Wendy Dove says her mother, Joan Harris, was in Craig-y-nos for two years ( 1948-50.)

"I was brought up hearing many stories of her stay there, and I was always intrigued to know more! I will most definitely be buying your book.

"Most of her stories were quite negative. Mum was 8/9 at the time and strong minded, so I suppose she would be getting into a lot of mischief!"

So I rang Joan up. She lives in Coventry, works as a hotel manageress and had discovered this blog quite accidentally while googling her home town of Phillipstown near Tredegar.


"I couldn't believe it when I read the stories. Until now nobody would believe me when I told them the things that happened to me as a child in Craig-y-nos.

"I used to be tied to the bed on a regular basis, it was a strait-jacket they put you into and folded your arms in front of you. I used to get up to mischief. Once I threw a slipper and it went straight out of the window through the iron bars ( remember the iron bars on the windows? ) and landed in the courtyard near a nurse who was standing there with her boyfriend.

Well, I got a terrible row . They wanted to know whose slipper it was. So, back into the straitjacket for me."

"My bed war near the fire escape and I used to plan to escape. I thought if I followed the river it would lead me to Swansea to my grandmother's home."


Joan was one of nine children and the family moved to Coventry when she was 16. She is married with one daughter.


How about this for a coincidence: Joan was in the next bed to Caroline Boyce ( nee Havard) who lives 15 miles along the road from me in Scotland!...

Book launch -May 1st Craig-y-nos Castle

Just checked with the Castle. So far 95 people have booked in for lunch amd there will be two sittings.

It should be quite a party!
We leave from Scotland next Wednesday flying down to Cardiff then picking up a hire car. We will be staying in Abercraf.

Ann and Mari on the farm

Ann Shaw ( nee Rumsey) (left) and Mari Friend( nee Jenkins) at Ty-Llangenny farm.


After I left Craig-y-nos Mari used to come with her parents to visit and often she would stay on the farm.

My dog Bonnie- life after Craig-y-nos

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My mother promised me a puppy when I came home from Craig-y-nos and this is Bonnie my Welsh corgi.

Len Ley- local historian

Len Ley

Len rang me this morning to say that he will be able to attend the launch and he will be available to do tours of the castle.

This was very popular at the last Reunion - most ex-patients just want to see where their beds were!
However, for those of us who were out on the balconies there is nothing to see because they were demolished many years ago.


The Childrens wards remain like a time warp- virtually unchanged from the days it was used as a childrens santaorium though latterly these rooms were used as a geriatric hospital.

Today the rooms form the basis for the ghost hunting tours with seances taking place in the Six-Bedder, formerly the boudoir of Adelina Patti.


Portrait of Adelina Patti , Brecon Town Hall.

Flying visit- book launch

My very good friend Karen Howard tells me that she will be taking the early morning flight from Edinburgh to Cardiff on May 1 so that she will be able to attend the book launch.

Children of Craig-y-nos book launch

Marlene ( centre) with her family in California



Marlene in Craig-y-nos 1954



Sheila Halford inside Ward 2 with Marlene's bed on blocks behind her.

This is the image that Marlene found one day when she "googled" Craig-y-nos - and that is how she discovered the "Chidlren of Craig-y-nos" project.


BBC Radio 4 want to make a programme about "The Children of Craig-y-nos" and we think will be there on the May 1st for the launch of the book.

Meanwhile sixty people have already booked in for the lunch.

And I am getting phone calls from all over the place from people anxious to make certain that they will get a copy of the book on the day.


Marlene Philibosian (nee Hopkins) rang from California. She would love to come over but she will be in Hawaii at the time ( lucky woman!). However Marlene wants a book and Dr Carole Reeves ( my co-author) has suggested she get it from Amazon.com.

It will be available online after May 1st.

Marlene was in from 1953 - 54. She says it was the experience of Craig-y-nos that took her into nursing and led her to further her studies in America - and she never returned.

"The girl in the next bed to me went on to become a doctor - Gwyneth Davies".

Many ex patients did in fact go into nursing or health related professions.

Brian Thomas- abandoned child

I have just made an amazing discovery: Brian Thomas, abandoned in Craig-y-nos as a two year old, lives less than 30 miles from me in Scotland!

During research for the book several people had mentioned that some children were left at Craig-y-nos by parents who found themselves overhwelmed by the sheer burden of poverty and disease made worse by the difficulty of getting to Craig-y-nos on public tranport.

These children moved on to orphanges but at least one was adopted locally though no-one could remember the details.

Now we have found him.

His name is Brian and he was adopted by local bus driver George Thomas and his wife Gladys.

Today Brian works and lives as an electrician in Glasgow and he tells me he hopes to come to the book launch on May 1st "if at all possible."

We look forwad to meeting you there Brian.

Margaret Scott

Receive phone call from Linda Delve in Swansea.

Her aunt, Margaret Scott, died some time ago and the family,
while clearing out the attic, found in pristine condition the body cast of five year old Margaret .

She had been sent home from Craig-y-nos with the cast and told to sleep in it every night.


For Margaret had been put into Craig-y-nos in the early 1940s as an 18 month old toddler, uncertain whether she had TB or polio. She remained there until she was five years of age



Now the family are faced with the problem of disposing of the cast. That's why Linda rang me. I suggest Swansea museum but first, I ask, would she like to bring it up to Craig-y-nos as a medical artefact on May 1st for the mini exhibition and book launch?

Linda is delighted at the suggestion.
" I am reluctant to just throw this cast into the bin. It has such memories."

Too true.
Many ex child patients will remember the years they spent encased in similar body casts.

Book launch - invitation

If you would like to attend the launch of "The Children of Craig-y-nos" on May 1st then ring up Craig-y-nos Castle direct and book in for the carvery lunch ( £12.95).

The number is: 01639 730205.

Over 150 invitations ( an example is featured here) have already been sent out.


The invitation says:
"A celebration to launch the book

will be held at
Craig-y-nos Castle, Brecon Rd., Pen-y-case, Powys SA9 1GL
on 1 May 2009 at 12 noon

followed by a carvery lunch ( priced £12.95) at 1pm

If numbers exceed restaurant places, there will be a second lunch sitting at 2.30 pm

If you and members of yourr family or friends and colleagues would like to attend please book directly with Craig-y-nos Castle
Tel 01639 730205

Ann and Carole hope to welcome you there

There will be a limited number of books for sale at a discounted price of £8.50 ( cover price £9.99)

We regret that we are unable to accept creid or debit cards.

The book will be available through Amazon and selected bookshops
You will also be able to download copies from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed ( after May 1st).

Iris Jones - 1937

Iris Jones (front row) on the balcony of Ward 2 in 1937.


David Jones, husband of Iris, just rang wanting to place an order for the book, "Children of Craig-y-nos". He will be at the book launch so I have assured him that a copy will be put aside for him lest we run out on the day.

However, it is worth reminding people that we received over 1,200 photos and only 200 could be used in the book so we have had to do some drastic editing.

Book launch- May 1st- Craig-y-nos Castle

Plans are well in hand now for the book launch on May 1st in Craig-y-nos Castle. Carole will be sending out invitations shortly either by snail-mail or email and we are expecting a terrific response.


It will be a lunch time "do" - similar to the Reunion- and it will take place in the Glass Conservatory which has recently been refurbished and I am assured it looks magnificent - Patti would be proud of it!


The book is selling for £9.99 but at the book launch there will be a special price of £8.50.

Knots, Girl Guides and Craig-y-nos

What would Health and Safety have to say about this today?
Girl Guides teaching patients how to light a fire and barbecue on Ward 2 balcony.




Guide leader prepares a sausage for the balcony barbecue.


Every time I tie a reef knot I remember where I learnt it: as a guide at Craig-y-nos.

Therefore I have fond memories of the guides for they represented a direct contact with the outside world, apart from monthly visits from parents, so I was delighted to receive the following email from Helena Thomas.


" Next year Guiding will be celebrating its Centenary. We hope to publish a pictorial book about Guding in Wales and I am hoping you will give permission to publish some of the photographs you sent me. The Guides at Craig-y-Nos are an important part of our history. I have found out the names of the leaders who helped and the dates they were there, but that is all the information I have at present.

You have certainly found out a lot about Craig-y-Nos when it was a hospital. Our county AGM is on 24th April and our guest speaker is going to talk about Craig-y-nos."

Gwynne Arms- visiting Craig-y-nos

(From left to right):
David, my brother, unknown man, Mrs Price, owner of the Gwynne Arms, my mother and father.

The Gwynne Arms was a popular pub with visitors to Craig-y-nos. My mother struck up a close friendship with the owner, Mrs Price, throughout the four years she visited me in Craig-y-nos.

Here's a rare photo of my mother, father and brother. I never did see my brother while I was in hospital because children were not allowed in though once I did wave to him from inside Ward 2 though to be honest I had no idea which one was him in the huge crowd gathered in the courtyard before the doors opened at 2pm to allow visitors in.

I had only been in a few months and Nurse Glen carried me to the window to wave to him.

Mari Friend ( nee Jenkins), 1950-53

After Mari and I left Craig-y-nos our mothers kept in contact and Mari came to stay with me on the farm, Ty-Llangenny, near Crickhowell.

Who is this girl?

At home- Ty-llangenny Farm

Trawling through my album I came across some photos taken on the farm shortly after leaving Craig-y-nos. This is one with Mari Friend ( nee Jenkins), her father and my mother.

I am holding Bonnie the corgi my mother bought for me to come home.

Girls on the balcony with teacher- - early 1950's

This should stir some memories!

Yet another photo from Mari Friend (nee Jenkins) vast collection. Miss Thomas ( teacher) is second from left followed by Jean Shakeshaft and Mari.

In the front row (right) is Barbara O' Connell ( Paines). We don't know the names of the other two girls.