Edward Ellis Thomas, age 85.

Ted, as he is best known as, is the oldest ex patient to come forward. He was in Craig-y-nos as a 7 year old for one year and has sent in a handwritten account. This is an extract:

He remembers :" In 1928 I travelled with my parents by train to Penycae, the station above Craig-y-nos , where we were met by a black ambulance and taken to the hospital. The ward was the large "all glazed" Childrens Ward ( conservatory), overlooking the river Tawe.

"On my second afternoon we were all carried down to a picnic by the river."

"Running beneath the beds were heating pipe ducts with ornamental cast-iron covers. We would wet tiny paper pellets in our mouths and drop them through the covers to hear mice and rats scuttle."

Ted lives in Brynmill Swansea and is a retired civil engineer with local government.