Interview with Bill Hall

“And the bus came and picked me up. I’ll never forget that day. Some things stand out in your memory. In my mother’s arms, at the corner of Morgan Street: they put me into the bus… We had canvas windows [laughs] and a wooden seat up either side... The Beales’ was a different gate going in, and it was a corner, you went in that way, and the rest, the so-called ‘normal school’ which was St John’s, was round... it wasn’t a grammar school, but it was something similar, you know, people were encouraged, but we never mixed. It was something that wasn’t the done thing… but it was built like a... it was just a big brick wall that went round. ‘We’ll keep them in; we’ll no let them out.’ [Laughs.] There wasn’t a sort of, you know. I don’t know if other special schools are all built the same, but it was just a sort of big, large building that went right round…"

Born 17 June 1936

Attended Hamilton special school; Ochenrae school; government training college in Egham in Surrey

Tape 1, side 1

Born 1936 eldest of six in a working-class family. Father ill. Dr Douglas said that Bill would be a vegetable and would not reach his teens. Rejection by Father. Brothers and sisters – Jim, lost one, a brother when Bill was six, a sister when Bill was nine, two younger brothers. Irish grandfather Patrick O'Donnell. Sent to a special school at the age of six in 1942. Left school at 16, went to a government training college in Egham in Surrey. Difficulty using pencil. Operation at the age of 12 in 1948. Snooker. First pint at the age of 18. Lanarkshire Spastics Association day out. Wilma Lawson. Vice chair Lanarkshire Spastics Youth Club. In 1958 at the age of 23 Bill met Sadie who was 30 and had polio. Married in 1959 and lived at Bill's parents. Three children in 4 and a half years. Moved to Glasgow and then back to Hamilton to live in a pre-fab. Marriage split and Bill moved to Corby. Youngest child William was eight and eldest Arthur was 11. Divorce. Now has seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Sadie died in 1992.
Download transcript of tape 1

Tape 2, side 1

Bill was born in Hamilton, in 1936, in Scotland, now living in Corby, and now using a wheelchair for mobility. Bill was his parents’ first child. His father had difficulty accepting his disability. Bill’s parents married in 1935. His father was born in 1914. Bill’s mother was 20 when she married. Bill was born in 1936, and in 1937 brother John was born (who died), followed by Jim in 1939. Training and work. Bill was born in a village called ‘The Quarter’, outside Hamilton, Lanarkshire. All Bill’s aunts and uncles lived locally. Bill’s father was labourer unable to work and the family survived on the means test. Bill’s problems with walking. Helping with the fire and the wringer for the washing. His first home had one bedroom and a scullery on the ground floor in Morgan Street, Hamilton. Bill’s earliest memory is going to school in 1942 aged 6. Doctor’s advice that Bill wouldn’t live. Bill was born in a grandmother’s house, which didn’t have a cooker, and had an outside toilet. Cooking was done on the fire. Bill’s first bed was a drawer lined with cushions. Bill’s grandfather died aged 51. Bill’s father went into the army in 1937-38. New house rented from Hamilton Borough Council. Local shops, including a barber’s shop and a grocer’s shop, Jenny Donaldson’s. Porridge and ‘tatties' (potatoes); mince, and bread. ‘Mixed’ marriage, as it was called in Scotland, with Bill’s mother Catholic and his father Protestant. Community school, with half an hour religious education a day. Bill was brought up a Catholic, but played with his friends, who were Protestant. Religious bigotry. Bill’s brother Jim went to the Protestant School. Bill remembers fight with his brother Jim. Morgan Street. Bus run by John Duncan’s of Motherwell. Woodburn School in Hamilton. Children had asthma, muscular dystrophy, heart conditions.

Tape 2, side 2

New school Ochenrae. Nurse McFarlaine. Bus run by Lanarkshire County Council. Aged 12 BH went into the Stonehouse hospital in Lanarkshire in 1948 for first operation to lengthen tendons at the back of his heels and legs. Meeting other disabled children. Given a wheelchair. Willy Cook and Willy Freeland had muscular dystrophy. 6-7 months in plaster. Most important things at school was “taking Virol [a tonic], saying prayers and making rugs”. Writing. Sheila Forester. Teachers Miss Steele, Miss Grey (RE) and Miss Dawlish. BH left school at 16. Love of snooker.
Download transcript of tape 2

Tape 3, side 1

1952-3. Father discharged on medical grounds from army. Air raid shelter. Moved from Morgan Street in 1943-44 to a new house in Kerr Crescent, Fairhill in Hamilton. Brother ‘Tommy Tucker’. Moved to another house ground-floor in Mill Road. Sister Morag. Mother didn’t have employment. 1955-56 operation with Mr Gardiner as the surgeon. A spiker [plaster]. The first time BH got drunk. Snooker at Cadgie Welfare. Jock Collins wouldn’t let BH into the snooker hall till he was 16. The Lanarkshire Spastics Association coach trip. Wilma Lawson. BH’s father was the first Chairman of Hamilton Academicals Football Club. Mr Arthur social worker. Making trays. 1957-8 BH met his wife. Uncle Harry gave BH a shilling every week; Uncle Angus was a Gospel Hall man. Mill Road. Married in 1959. First child was born on Princess Margaret’s wedding day. Sadie was 23 and BH was 30. Polio Fellowship. Callipers. Moving into a prefab.

Tape 3, side 2

Parents’ reaction to marriage. Mother had TB [tuberculosis]. Michael Murphy who had cerebral palsy and his wife had polio too. Having children. Press coverage. Invertrike, three-wheel type vehicle with a Velor two-stroke engine. BH became a sheltered workshop machinist, making ladies’ hats. Remploy. Moved to Corby in 1971. Father’s attitude to BH. Daily living adaptations. 1973 BH went to a day centre called Stonehouse. Team leaders Bob and Linda Tucker. BH became Chairman of DIAL [Disability Information and Advice Line] and first school governor in Northamptonshire who used a wheelchair.
Download transcript of tape 3

Tape 4, side 1

Move to Corby in 1971 after break-up of marriage. 400 mile journey on an Invertrike, a three-wheeler type, two-stroke engine. Family reunited in 1972. Stonehouse day centre. Phab, an organisation for physically able-bodied and disabled. 1983 using a computer for the first time. International Year of Disabled People 1981. Northamptonshire Council for the Disabled.

Tape 4, side 2

Meeting of The Spastics Society. Work of DIAL [Disability Information and Advice Line]. Disability Discrimination Act. Plan M, [Part M] Building Regulations. Adult education 1983. Minibus Driver Awareness Scheme. Cecil Petie with spina bifida. International Year of Disabled People.
Download transcript of tape 4

Tape 5, side 1

Moved back to Scotland. Travelling in a Nippy. Drove three-wheeled Invertrike from Inverness to Corby in 1978 on the motorway. Attitudes to disabled people in Scotland and England. A book written about Stonehouse, called A Place of Our Own. Second marriage. Special Needs Link Governor. Occupational therapists, home care, Bedford Pilgrim Housing Association. Housing needs and design. Pavement scooters.
Download transcript of tape 5