The Gleed sisters 1956-58

I wonder if anyone remembers the 3 Gleed sisters, Sandra, Sue and Pat (5, 6 and 7) who were in Craig-y-nos from 1956-58?

Sue went to the staff and patient reunion the other day. She says: :
“I had gone to put memories to bed”
especially the horrific one she has carried with her all her life of the night Dr Huppert ordered her bed to be pulled out into the corridor along with her sister for talking after lights out.


The next morning her sister Pat was wheeled back into the main ward.
But Sue was put into a locked room on her own and there she remained for days.
Her food was brought into her and nobody was allowed to talk to her.

Dr Huppert said it was to “teach her a lesson”. When her mother visited and found her in this locked room she complained to Dr Williams and she was put back into the main ward.

But the experience of those few days has been with her all her life.

“I was in restrainers...you remember restrainers but that was not as frightening as being locked up on my own.”

Sadly none of the staff at the reunion either remembered Sue or believed her story.
But her sisters, Pat and Sandra, are able to corroborate the incident.
Some may remember Pat for she was the little girl with a limp having contacted polio at six months of age.

Her father also had TB and was in hospital ( Talgarth and Sully) at the same time.
“My mother had a dreadful time trying to visit us all.”

Sue believes the traumatic experience in Craig-y-nos has affected her all her life:
“It’s made me very nervous, very anxious.”

Sue is now Mrs Turner, age 57, married with 1 child and 3 grandchildren and has fostered children for the last 20 years.
“I know what these children are going through because I have been there myself.”
She lives in a small village near Newport, Gwent about a mile from where she grew up.