My experience of visiting CH after the abuse

This section was setup in August 2018 in order to move the existing related discussions from other sections into this new section to group them together, and separate from the other CH-related topics.

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Peele94
2nd Former
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2014 11:12 pm
Real Name: Duncan Forbes

My experience of visiting CH after the abuse

Post by Peele94 »

I visited CH over the summer to see if it would trigger my PTSD again, and I made a video of my experience in case it's of benefit to anyone else who has been avoiding visiting. Trigger warning, I do mention some of the abuse, but I mainly talk about the easier to digest stuff. https://youtu.be/HedeiFB1MuM
Otter
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Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2018 5:17 pm
Real Name: Stephen O'Rourke
Location: East Anglia

Re: My experience of visiting CH after the abuse

Post by Otter »

Hi Duncan, I belatedly came across this. Thanks for this excellent video.

I really related to your description of acting as a curtain. I didn't have to do this exact thing, but it's how you described the low-level, almost trivial stuff that a teacher, matron or tutor would laugh at if you raised concerns about it, but are all little straws to break the camel's back. I remember doing similar slave-like tasks for the older kids that were laughed about, as you say treated as character-building, but looking back they were really quite bad, and makes me wonder what the perpetrators are like as adults.

I remember as a Squit being made to do back massages for the LE; having to stand completely still and have my back used as a writing desk for prep; and being told in the dayroom to go to the 2nd floor to retrieve some random small item like a pen, and then come back and be told to get another item and so on, about 10 consecutive times. I think it never me did any long-term harm as it didn't really escalate and I had forgotten about most of it, but anyway I relate totally to your description of it.

Also I'd forgotten of the existence of the term "Harry's Alley" for about 20 years so thanks for that :D
rockfreak
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Real Name: David Redshaw
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Re: My experience of visiting CH after the abuse

Post by rockfreak »

It's times like this that I get very irate about Christ's Hospital and some of the attitudes - especially on the Official site (from which I've been banned) which casts CH as smelling totally of roses. No-one should have to apologise for not accepting the "character building" which the British boarding school system apparently specialises in. Why should anyone have to suffer abuses (low-level or high-level) in order to get a decent education? I thought that this sort of thing was over when I was there in the 1950s. I'm aghast to find that it seems to have lingered on. Is this under the deadly triumvirate of Poulton, Cairncross and Sillett by any chance?
Chris Grady
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Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 11:31 am
Real Name: Chris Grady

Re: My experience of visiting CH after the abuse

Post by Chris Grady »

Duncan thank you - I have had the privilege of hearing your quiet eloquence when talking about things in your childhood perpetrated by the School and many who served in a capacity of carer or responsible human. Your vlogs will prove immensely helpful to those who have come after and not been able to speak about it. They are less alone because of your courage to speak out.
MrEd
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Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:29 pm
Real Name: Ed McFarlane

Re: My experience of visiting CH after the abuse

Post by MrEd »

Your video was interesting, and as one who was at CH around a decade before you, I am appalled at how it seems to have done nothing to improve after my time. I left the year before the Hertford merger and those (and by far the majority) of good teachers were going on about the new safeguards that would be in place after the merger. I thought it would have improved significantly within a few years, but it sounds like the pupil/pupil interactions were worse than in my time. Have you tried comparing experiences with anyone who had a good time at CH? It is surprising how different individual experiences were. Mine were fine, some boys had horrific times.

And to be fair to the place, falling off the Sicker drain pipe is, I hope, something that you can look back on with some wry amusement.
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