Interview with David Edwards

Born 5 August 1942

Educated Grove Infants School, Dorchester: Victoria Home, Bournemouth: Colney Hill School, Margate; Whiteness Manor School, Broadstairs; Lord Mayor Treloar College, Alton; Open University 

 

Born 1942 near Glastonbury, in Somerset. Complications at birth. Father present at birth but returned to serve in North Africa and Italy. Ignorance of cerebral palsy among doctors. Air raids. American troops giving fruit. Walking at age of three. Cottage at Poundbury Farm near Dorchester. Father worked with poultry on Home Farm. In 1946 brother Anthony born. In 1947 David went to the Grove Infants’ School, Dorchester. Head teacher Mrs Stevenson. Cycling from Dorchester to grandparents’ home at Baltonsborough near Glastonbury. Sent to ‘The Victoria Home’, a junior school run by The Shaftesbury Society at Bournemouth. Isolation.

Missed grandparents’ golden anniversary. Facilities at school included physiotherapy room and a hydrothermal pool. Nurse Fox. Download transcript of tape 1

 

 

Victoria Home, Bournemouth. David learned to walk at the age of three. Father made a trolley to help him learn to walk. Grove Infants School Dorchester. Physiotherapy and speech therapy. Operation at the age of eight to cut tendons and drop heels lead to a two-week stay in Poole General Hospital where his uncle was a pathologist and his aunt was a ward sister. Impersonal atmosphere of Victoria Home. Nurse Fox. Parcels from home were shared among all the children. Shaftesbury Society School at Margate. Long journey by car. Superintendent Mr Simms and his wife who was the matron. Days out in Mr Simms' open top sports car. Favouritism. Local football matches at Margate. Victoria Home grounds and orchard where David and his gang set up camp and got into trouble. Gardening. Mr Green headteacher. Stamp collecting.

 

Coney Hill, Kent. Friendly and happy atmosphere, but discipline strong, with staff keeping tight control over everyday lives. Daily routine was quite rigid and structured. Up at 7am, daily queue to use toilet. Book kept by staff; tick is successful. If no success after two days, joined another queue to get dose of laxative.  Queues. 30-35 boys at school. Not much privacy. Small lockers for personal belongings, not lockable. Thefts. Speech therapy in Margate. Outings. Nearby American air-force base. Annual Christmas party. Football and cricket teams. Pupils had polio, TB and cerebral palsy. Holidays and parental visits. Letters home fortnightly. Letters and parcels were opened before boys received them, in case they contained money, which was put into a piggy bank. Staff attitudes. Corporal punishment. Prefects. Coney Hill.  Walking two or three miles to church. Introduction to television. Coronation.

 

Medical attitudes during school years. Victoria Home. DE prescribed glasses to correct squint. Surgical boots worn till 16. Night callipers for 2-3 years. Speech therapy at Margate.  Physiotherapy. At 12 DE went to Shaftesbury Society Senior School, Broadstairs. Spartan conditions. Bed by 7.30pm, including boys aged up to 15. Baths and showers supervised by staff. Superintendent and matron. Anglican background. Mr Butler teacher. Corporal punishment.

 

Contact with girls from girls school nearby. Garden Party.  Enjoyed camping at Sevenoaks. DE became Scouts troop leader. Dorchester, Woodlarks Camp. St Georges Day Parade, Windsor Castle. David talked to Duke of Edinburgh. In 1952, Princess Elizabeth visited Dorchester. Duchy of Cornwall. Royal Wessex train from Waterloo. DE took part in hay-making and harvesting. Grandparents. Fishing and scrumping apples. People staring in Dorchester. Church youth club.

 

July 1958, at 16, had to leave Whiteness Manor School, Broadstairs. David passed Elementary English, his only academic qualification. Tradition of throwing red caps out of train as crossed over Medway Bridge. Ambition to keep poultry like father. Education Authority in Dorset recommended Lord Mayor Treloar College, near Alton. Training in poultry keeping for 2-3 months. Tailoring course. Saturday afternoon matinees in cinema. Bus to Farnham, Aldershot or Winchester.

 

Left Treloar College in July 1959. Tricycle. Dorchester Labour Exchange on Wednesdays and Fridays. Disablement Resettlement Officer. Assessment at Industrial Rehabilitation Unit, Bristol. Visit from Bill Hargreaves, Spastics Society Industrial Liaison Officer. Sherrards Training Centre, Welwyn Garden City. February 1960 assessment course at Colwall Court, Bexhill. Run by Margaret Morgan and Jane Thompson, SS Social workers. Jean Tocher, Youth Employment Officer. Labour Exchange Manager contacted Rotary Club. Steam Clean Company, Dorchester laundry. Joined local Spastics Society in Yeovil. Charlie Bout, leader of local boys club. Clerical job at County Hall. Won two prizes at Dorset Association of Youth Clubs art and craft exhibition. 'Any Questions' from Dorchester. Freddie Grisewood.

 

Summer 1961, spent 3 months at Rehabilitation Unit at Odstock Hospital. Harry Larkin, double leg amputee, and DE travelled to motor cycle scramble in Harry's invalid car. Pub crawl. Evening classes at local secondary modern to prepare for GCE English language. Shaftesbury Society Festival in London. Prestatyn Holiday Camp, North Wales. Day excursion to Snowdon. Liverpool. Supplementary Benefit. Coach trip to Loch Lomond. Scotland. Summer of 1962. Chiddock Hill. Lyme Regis. In 1962 Bill Hargreaves formed 62 Clubs at social event at Park Crescent. Local Spastics Society opened workshop in Bromley in May 1963.

 

Holidays in Liverpool and Prestatyn. Proms concerts. Bromley Spastics Society proposed David for fortnight holiday in Jersey. West Kent Spastics Society Work Centre. Packing and assembly work. Church in Bromley and church youth groups. Evening classes in French and English literature. Tricycle for local cycling. Spastics Society Employment and Social Services Department. Went to large sheltered workshop and hostel in Birmingham on 1 November 1963/4. Breaking up Bakelite phones for recycling. Assembling toy ducks.

 

62 Clubs. Bill Hargreaves. Weekend conference at Nottingham University. London club in the basement of Spastics Society in Park Crescent. Travelling from Bromley. September 1963 camping. Spring Club. Eltham swimming pool. Local jazz club featured Chris Barber, Terry Lightfoot, Acker Bilk. Evening class on astronomy. GCE English Literature. Dancing. Attending the parish church in Bromley. Supplementary Benefit. Assembly work. Sheltered workshop in Birmingham.

 

Chicken pox. Peter Large, well-known disabled spokesman and involved in Disablement Income Group. Association of Disabled Professionals. 1967 to 1972 moved to open employment in a factory. Christmas relief at the Post Office. Trike accident on Bromley High Street. Met first wife at 62 Club conference at Reading University. Depression. Married on New Year’s Day 1972 at Bromley Parish Church.Filmed for Like Other People, part of a Man Alive programme on TV and Open University course called ‘The Handicapped Person, in the Community’.

 

Medical Officer of Health assessed housing. Offered a ground floor maisonette in Chislehurst. Doreen had job at Cosmos (the tour operator) in Bromley then at Education Department offices. Honeymoon on a coach tour of Austria. Sponsored walk in France. Son Spencer was born.

 

Mini car automatic. Weekend in a hotel run by The Spastics Society in Westcliffe. Bathing baby. Disability Rehabilitation Officer. 1974 Open University degree course. April 1975 study tour to Rome. Bill Hargreaves arranged a test drive with the British School of Motoring in Kensington.

 

Driving test in Sidcup High Street. Institute of Advanced Motorists. OU summer school at Keele University. December 1977 DE and family moved to Milton Keynes. Local group of The Spastics Society. Glynn Vernon. Peace Movement. Son Spencer joined local cub pack and church choir. Mobility Allowance and Motability scheme. Local access group. Yoga for Health centre. Howard Kent, television producer and yoga teacher. The Musgrove Hospital at Taunton.

 

Problems of ageing with cerebral palsy. Messenger at post office headquarters in London. DE applied to the Civil Service. Driving to Scotland in a Sunbeam. Youth hostels.

 

Milton Keynes in 1977. The Welfare Rights Group at Milton Keynes. Parents for Children, adoption agency. Arrogance of health professionals. DE’s protest at prices for Graeae theatre group. Milton Keynes Peace Campaign. DE became governor of school. Spastics Society professional workshop. Apple computers. DE completed my Open University degree in 1979. Arts Foundation Course at East Anglia University. Youth Hostels.

 

Exchanged houses with a bungalow in Marnhull in Dorset in 1984. Death of sister with MS in March 1983. Apollo Club at Yeovil. Sailing and canoeing at Sutton Bingham. DE became secretary of Parochial Church Council. Monkton Combe School. Quakers. Easter Peace and Meditation Day at Batcombe Friary.

 

Marriage break-up in 1985. Monkton Combe Junior School. Motability. Sidmouth Folk Festival. Quakers. Cape Wrath. Natural Friends friendship agency. 1989 met second wife Helen. Pembrokeshire Hostel at Broadhaven. Arts centre in Midsomer Norton steering committee. Bath and North East Somerset withdrew funding.

 

Citizens Advice Bureau. DE elected to sub-committee of the Housing and Social Services. Painting. Midsomer Norton. Sustrans transport charity.

 

Living at Midsomer Norton. Long Sutton old Quaker schoolhouse. Public speaking. Weekend at Hereward College. Adapted ground floor flat in Somerton. Campaign about kerbs at bus stops. Community Relations Officer.

 

Part Three of the Disability Discrimination Act. Parking for disabled badge holders. North Dorset District Council. Nordis. Friends’ Meeting Houses. Digby Hall in Sherborne. Disabled people’s contact with opposite sex. Employment schemes. Lack of accessible housing in the public sector. Adaptations for disabled people often removed when person moves house. DE’s gratitude to mother for support in early years.