Thinking ahead to creating a CIC I have looked back to what we have achieved so far as an Unincorporated Association and finding our space up in the North East. Here is the story so far.
1970s to 2016: Recap. As a child, I was sent to Ashbank Remand home for children in the 1970s, for what was then known as correctional education. It was a time of trauma, abuse, and torture, that has affected my life ever since, and stole the life I may have had.
I never received the support I should have and in truth would not have accepted it if given until my breakdown around 2016.
My professional career was born out of that experience I went on to work with some of Britain’s most vulnerable children and adults, all my work was based around, truth, positive activity and being a constant presence and ambassador for the protection of children.
In 2016 I revisited Ashbank Remand Home for children, where thoughts and memories came flooding back. The building had closed as a remand home around 1974, but the local authority continued to use it in different ways until it was closed and went up for sale.
One thing happened within a few months that affected me greatly. I was in a work meeting with other practitioners and professionals when out of nowhere tears started flooding and I was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder *c-PTSD, linked with manic depression. Life went wrong as my childhood trauma caught up with me. I needed to rest and went to live in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands. There were other factors to this decision making.
2016 to 2021: Living with PTSD and my recovery, made me realise there is good, but very sporadic support out there, and generally, I responded to those who had an understanding or empathy, these turned out to be few and far between. Having seen psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health nurses, the one I responded to was Cognitive Behavioural Therapy *CBT.
In 2018 out of desperation I posted on the world wide web, about Ashbank House, York. I had great support from some of the very men who were sent to Ashbank Remand Home for children in the 1960s and 70s. From there the support and conversations became more personalised and away from the eyes of the world. Some of us met up, telephoned and video called. A self-support group began to grow. For the first time, we were speaking to and receiving some of the best support from the very boys who were there. Simple things like breakfast routines, staff members, “the staircase” were recognised, without question, which made us feel like “it really did happen then!!!”.
Correctional Institutions in the 1960s and 70s, were brutal beyond all normal understanding, those who survived are still victims today. For the men who suffered abuse by the very services that were supposed to nurture, protect, and rehabilitate them, stand in a unique position within the statutory support services. After all, how can a mind process the fact that those who are there to support them now have organisational roots buried deep within the abuse they are trying to process and mend.
2022 to present: In 2022, more men were contacting me to relate their journey through the correctional institutions they were sent to as children. Often all that was needed was a chance to simply talk to another who had lived through the very systems they had been in and tell their story. Others needed a more structured and regular support, meetings or wanting to help. The idea of a national network of “lived experience men” was suggested by one of the group, to offer support to those in need in a truly empathetic way.
In December 2022 an article was written by a solicitor on the Lower Lee School child abuse case, mentioning The Forgotten Boys, linking the article to the website. Survivors from Lower Lee School, the Cleveland Child Abuse case, Ashbank Remand Home for children, Tong Park Borstal, Castle Howard Approved School, and other institutions, began to make contact asking for support.
It was becoming unmanageable and time consuming offering the support, after a meeting with the members it was recognised, The Forgotten Boys needed to have the legal status of a CIC limited by guarantee, to attract stakeholders and expand the service through need.
Although we are a “start-up” we have been a constitutionalised Unincorporated Association since 2018, to date The Forgotten Boys have supported, in some form, ninety-six men, and at any one time an average of thirty-eight men use the support service made and created by them.
Beyond the support network: The Forgotten Boys have run a number of pilots over the years, (and still doing so) from the Highlands of Scotland, The North East and Yorkshire. These pilots used boxing as a tool for engagement and retention. The hourly sessions ended with an open discussion; a topic led by the group with sessions available for one on one NLP therapies. The boxing programme is called Pressure Drop.
We are proposing opening a centre in Sunderland where an expression of interest has been acknowledged. Over the coming months, a need for service is to be led by a yet-to-be-formed steering group.
Since 2016 I have acted as a consultant for many charities, organisations and local authorities for policy and practice reviews and input for training resources. More structure and blending into The Forgotten Boys service is happening and the ultimate aim is for The Forgotten Boys to have a voice in protecting children and vulnerable adults today.
a forgotten boy