The Gables, New Basford...

[Diane 2]

Hi it was my daughter Emma that started this thread a few years ago.I was in the gables  in 1967.I also remember nurse Kelly and also a ginger haired boy named Nick.My problem is I can not remember to much about being there,Can't remember the bed rooms can only just remember the kitchen and dining room.Im wondering if you was there the same time as me.I feel there was something very dodgy about the place.

[Nick1 1]

I was there. I thouht kelly had a hard time. I left to go back to school. I miss Janice, Veronica and Mark.

We are all 60 + now.

I've had a pretty cool life. Just come out of open heart surgery about a month ago and it really puts a telescope on your future lol. But hey - here we all are.

By the way - I love the way they ask us questions at the beginning of joining here - like, only a Nottingham person would know the answer.   Nick.

[Nick1 1]

Hi, I am the ginger haired boy called Nick, the guy Brian from Clifton was into rugby. There was a blonde girl I vaguely remember who got.....that thing where you go yellow so they gave her Chicken Supreme.

I remember Doctor Arkle and the rest of the gang.

The Nurse Bishop and Sister Tinsley took us all down to.....Mansfield Road and I was allowed to go into a travel agents to ask the name of the plane in the window, politely. The young man told me it was a Coronada but he was so abrupt and ostentacious, I really thought he would disappear up his own -rse any second. The rude - - - -!

Sister Tinsley didn't like him either.

[AlanB 13]

Does anyone else remember Nurse Hewlett? She was quite a large lady with curly blonde hair if I recall correctly. She used to administer a punishment which she called "Humpty Dumpty" which she described as "being dropped from a great height." It was in reality being taken to the shower room and spanked. I wonder if this counts as abuse?

[Diane 2]

Alan that sure was abuse.I have got a lot of memory loss regarding the gables but I presume it was caused by all the tablets they was giving me.Was either you and Nick allowed home at weekends?

[AlanB 13]

To be honest I can't recall if I went home for the weekends or not (as you say probably the drugs affected my memories of that time) but I have a recollection of constantly telling my parents how awful it was and I don't think they visited me there so maybe I did go home for the weekends. As for the drugs, the idea I think was to try different medication to see if it worked any better than what I was on, but after I came out I was still on the same tablets as I was on before! So what was the point? Also when I went to university I soon decided to stop taking the tablets and I was no worse than I had been on them. I still have some nervous tics even now but I've learned to live with them and accept them as part of who I am.

[Diane 2]

I can't remember nurse Hewlett.The one I remember was nurse Kelly she was very strict as I recall.The reason they sent me there was because I had agrophobia and still suffer from it now.My theory is that we was used as guinea pigs as I do know that back then in the 60s that kind of thing did happen.

[AlanB 13]

Horrendous thought isn't it, things were so primitive back then. It wouldn't surprise me if you said they'd made you stand in a wide open space and told you not to be so silly. I remember one occasion when we all went out for a walk and I could hear a voice behind me shouting "stop ticing!". I thought if it was that easy then no way I would have to be here!

[Diane 2]

That's the thing I just can't remember I remember certain names .The only rooms I remember is the kitchen and dining room .I've tried looking the place up on Google but nothing all the other children's homes from the 60s pop up but not the gables I've also looked up children's mental hospitals but nothing.Are you on Facebook so we could chat on messenger some time regards to this.Yes that must have been awful for you being shouted at for having tics,I heard the house got burnt down weather it's true or not I've no idea.

[MaryG 0]

Hello, I was at the Gables for a short time in my junior years I am nearly 61.  I remember in the mornings we would have to walk or run round the property and there being a room with a large table that we all sat round for meals and various activities. I also remember the name Dr Arkle but everything else is less clear, if we were being medicated that could explain why! Mary

[Diane 2]

Hi Mary,I'd like to find out more about the dreadful place but I've hit a dead end..I like yourself Mary can't remember much about it.I think we was all drugged up .

[AlanB 13]

From what I remember: Big old ?Edwardian house in extensive grounds. You walked in the front door and ahead of you were stairs with a corridor to the left. Two rooms were on the left - the first was the dining room which doubled as the room where you would meet Dr Arkle when she visited. The other room was the lounge with sofa(s) and a TV. To the right of the front door was the manager's office and at the bottom of the stairs I think was the room where they administered the drugs. Dormitories were on the first floor, I think there were at least 6 beds in mine. At the end of the passage next to the stairs was the shower room and I presume the kitchen, though I can't remember that. To the right of the main house was an outbuilding that was used for PE. There was also a separate building used as a classroom if you were there during school term time.

[Diane 2]

I recall going to the class room the teacher was an oldish guy and yes it was in an outer building. I really do need to find out more about that place though it's bugging me that I can't remember. Much.

[denshaw 2,871]

I drove along Sherwood rise last night and noticed a place called the Gables opposite Ebury road, it is a fairly new building and is an independent retirement home with 28 one bedroom properties.

[Diane 2]

Yes that's right the name hasn't changed although it's a new building.I believe the old building burnt down

[Brian_potter 0]

I was there around 1963ish, I to remember nurse Kelly, very intimidating perhaps is was her accent. Sister Tinsley was great met her later at Mapperley Hospital. I remember Veronica and Dr Arkle.

I was there for trying to top myself, drugged up to eyeballs while there. Later transferred to Mapperly Hospital for running away.

I am Brian as mentioned in other posts.

[Cliff Ton 10,458]

Welcome Brian_potter.

 

Interesting how this thread is gradually catching the attention of many previous inmates of The Gables. And they all have the same comments to make about the place.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Welcome from me, also, Brian.  The thread makes fascinating but very disturbing reading. Not the sort of place anyone would enter voluntarily, I suspect.

[Stuart.C 491]

The Gables, 43 Sherwood Rise, Nottingham

 

Was previously the residence of Turney, of the Nottingham Leatherworks. (1917) https://secure.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/RollOfHonour/People/Details/31672

 

Was previously a Home for Maladjusted Boys, 1946 1952. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11206836

 

Is opposite Ebers Rd on the left before Djanogly, still called the Gables (43 to 53) and is a Retirement housing scheme.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Maladjusted boys?  Not a phrase anyone would dare use these days?

[Stuart.C 491]

There doesn't seem to be any mention of The Gables after 1952 as a place for Children and it doesn't appear in any articles re investigations into Nottingham Childrens Homes, although some homes are not mentioned on any lists due to ongoing current enquiries by the Police

[hiwayman031 0]

ok this is a long time after the prior posts but here goes,in 1957 i was placed in a boys home on sherwood rise, called the gables, number 43,there where 12 boys there,ages 8 to 15,i attended claremont junior school,i spent 2 and a half years there.the place was demolished and a care home for the elderly built in its place,sorry no idea when this happened,at that time there was another home of sorts at the bottom of sherwood rise,no idea what it was called or what it was used as,sorry i cant be of more help,but i have very strong memories of the gables.

 

 

[Cliff Ton 10,458]

That's a useful post hiwayman031, because it's the first time we've heard from someone who was actually there, and has positively identified the building - and what it is now.

[AlanB 13]

On 12/24/2020 at 1:46 PM, Stuart.C said:

There doesn't seem to be any mention of The Gables after 1952 as a place for Children and it doesn't appear in any articles re investigations into Nottingham Childrens Homes, although some homes are not mentioned on any lists due to ongoing current enquiries by the Police

I don't think it was a children's home though, at least not in the 1960s, it was more an outpost of St Ann's Hospital.

[IAN FINN 807]

Where was St.Annes hospital i have never heard of it.