BBC Radio 4:" Saturday Morning Live"

 Tom Daley, diver, celebrity guest 
Ann Shaw, ex -patient ( 1950-54) was invited on to BBC Radio 4 :"Saturday Morning Live" last Saturday (October 16 ) to talk about her years in the sanatorium and how she came to re-connect with that past experience  through this blog which eventually , with the help of medical historian Dr Carole Reeves,  became the book"The Children of Craig-y-nos".

The celebrity guests on the programme were Tom Daley, diver, and pop singer Anne-Marie.

Ann comes on at the end of the programme . She says:" I am pleased that at long last we are able to talk about that dark time in Welsh history  of being isolated for years from the community in a remote castle deep in the Welsh valleys. Many of us were traumatised by that experience and only now is this being recognized."

Television : "Children of Craig-y-nos"

Fresh air treatment out on the balcony Ann Shaw ( left) with friends

If you missed the recent documentary made by Wales ITV about the "Children of Craig-y-nos" this is the link.

https://www.itv.com/walesprogrammes/articles/children-of-craig-y-nos

The consensus of opinion is that this half hour documntary made by Welsh television mnaged to encapsulate some of the our lives. It certainly gives a flavour of what we lived through.

So thank you Wales ITV for bringing this subject to a much wider audience.

Daily life

Does anyone recognise a relative amongst these little girls?

The swans were a popular feature on the lake.

Brian Griffiths' mothers collection

This is a very old photo of Craigynos Castle long before it became a childrens TB sanatorium at the time it belonged to Adelina Patti.

Here are more photos from Brian Griffiths in Swansea's collection which he found in his attic. They belonged to his mother, Phyllis, who worked as a sister at Craig-y-nos.

She died when he was 11 years of age. Brian is now 65.

He says finding the photos and going through them has proved to be a very emotional experience. He would love to be able to fill in the missing  history of his mothers time working there and if anyone has any information which they would like to pass on to Brian then please email me- annshaw@mac.com- or text 07543 671260- and I will pass it on to Brian.

He now lives in Swansea.

Some members of staff playing tennis.

Found in the attic

 

 

Sister Griffiths (centre) with two members of staff

 

I never dreamt when I set out to write a book over a decade ago ago about a children’s TB sanatorium in the Welsh valleys (I spent four years as a child there) that I would still be getting people contacting me in search of their own missing family history.

 

But it still happens on a fairly regular basis. For the book “The Children of Craig-y-nos” is the only record in the world of life inside such an establishment. Thus it is a unique piece of Welsh social history.

 

This morning twenty  photos dropped into my email box from Brian Griffiths, Swansea of his mother, a ward sister on the balcony with a young patient.

 

“ I was sorting out the attic and I came across this big box of photos,” said. Brian. “ I knew my mother worked in this hospital but I have very little knowledge of what her life was like.”

 

Tomorrow I will post the photos and the rest of the story. Meanwhile here is an original photo of the hospital which has not been changed i.e photoshopped.