Assisi Mother & Baby Homes

[Damian Keady]

By the way - before any moderator decides to delete or edit my last post - I would like to point out that what I have posted is already out there in the public domain, which is how I found it... so by moderating or deleting you will be denying free speech.

[sarah]

By the way - before any moderator decides to delete or edit my last post - I would like to point out that what I have posted is already out there in the public domain, which is how I found it... so by moderating or deleting you will be denying free speech.

Damian, your posts have never been edited or deleted so I have no idea why you have posted this

Sarah

[mullion cove]

Hi Damian,
I have just talked through houses and dates with my husband.  I misnderstood about the proximity of Cedar Cottage to Assisi. 
My husband's Father was not employed by the nuns.  They moved as a family to a cedar Cottage in 1946/7 and left in 1953.  Cedar Cottage belonged to a Mr and Mrs A Board who lived at Plaster Hill, Headley Road Churt.  My husbands Father worked on Mr. Board's farm. 
Cedar Cottage is situated 5 houses down towards Churt and when last we visited a few years ago, it still had the large Monkey Puzzle tree in the garden.  Going up the road from Cedar Cottage towards Assisi, next was a pair of semi detached cottages one was occupied by a family named Gale and the other by someone called Marshall who later went to work for the Boards as their gardener.  There were two more cottages and then the Assisi home.
My husband thinks that there may have been a house in the grounds of Assisi for a gardener or maybe they owned one of the 2 cottages immediately next to the home.  Assisi definitely didn't own Cedar Cottage during those years.
It was a small community in Hammer Lane and Assisi was part of it but they didn't intigrate, my husband says he was frightened of the nuns.  My Mothet in law used to talk to the girls and some came in for a cup,of tea, but it wasn't encouraged by the nuns.
I do hope you get some answers, I know how important it is to find out family history.  I can be a very long process and the Catholic Church haVe an awful,lot to answer for.

[Damian Keady]

Dear MC

Many, many, thanks for your post..  and sincere apologies from me if I came across as curt or accusing in my previous post, it was not what I meant, I was trying to just put my own limited knowledge of what I believe I know of Assisi and the order of Nuns who ran it into perspective.

re. Cedar Cottage, it was based on a thread I have come across for another property in the grounds of Assisi, and that it was maybe the house that the priest or chaplain lived in... however I will need to go back and research that again as I did not bookmark it for some reason... But remember it is a piece of info I came across quite recently. Apologies again!

However, I intend to start looking at other databases and information regarding the property soon, such as the land registry. But until then I have kept my research broad to start with, so that I can then drill down in to the minutia and follow qualified leads. "Dig deep and deep wide is my motto"

As mentioned in a previous post of mine, I actually visited the property (in 1983) when it had, as far as I know, literally only just changed hands into private homes... although I never had the opportunity to explore it.

What is interesting to me now, among lots of other things, is the fact that the Franciscan Sisters of Divine Motherhood who were at Assisi, are now still going in another guise as the FMDM, I can qualify that fact as I emailed the FMDM a few years ago via an eform on their own website, and received a reply which I still have on file, which is irrefutable that they are the one and same organisation.

I find this extraordinary, that they are still running a business (charity, call it what you will!) out of other peoples misery. As of the end of 2016 they were worth over £90m GBP  http://fmdminternational.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016-Signed-accounts-1.pdf

I take on board that my rants on here may seem self obsessed and not in the spirit of the original post of this forum, but to all who read this that have been affected by the events of this travesty, I am on your side in just trying to establish the source of truth, based on who, what, where, when, why and ultimately how this ever happened in the first place.

Assisi is the tip of the iceberg, M&B's existed all across the UK and the Catholic church in my mind were the architects of them, regardless of the faith and motivations of other organisations which also ran them, it was a Catholic concept and model. This is because government and the social care system of the time was woefully lacking, although some may say they were in collusion with the process, after all it was unregulated and an easy way for them to fulfil their own so called purposes.

We are none of us getting any younger, and we all still have lots of questions as to our beginnings and the families we don't know... my belief is that there is a lot of information out there that you and I do not have access to... so my own personal mission is to bring it into the light!

Best wishes to you all, however please feel free to contact me with any queries.

[mullion cove]

Hi Damian,
Thank you for your reply.  I didn't think you were curt at all, I know from my own research for a friend who was adopted (not through a M and B home thankfully) how difficult and frustrating it can be.  I got lucky and it was Rootschat that gave me the answers in the end.
In Octiober we have some friends visiting.  They are of similar age to my husband and grew up in Churt.  They are/were staunch Catholics.  They stopped all association with the church over the recent sex scandal that have come to light involving the church.  They may be able to suggest avenues that you could take for information and/or people who you could contact.  It is worth a try, I will contact you again after their visit if there is anything worth passing on.
Keep searching, there will be something out there that will be the break through for you.  Because the scandals revolving around these faith organisations are coming out now, there will, at some point, be a full enquiry into all aspects of their actions and they won't be able to hide for ever. 

[Damian Keady]

Dear MC

I hope you don't mind my informality in abbreviating your online name of choosing to MC... ? My friends call me Damo.. amongst other things, and you are welcome to use it. as a friend I feel I am getting to know.

I would like to thank you for your reply and post to my last rant as it is much appreciated. In as much as someone else is out there (i.e you) willing to take on board that something wrong has happened in our near past and this has never been fully addressed yet, if even acknowledged properly, which in my mind it hasn't.

I am aware that there is a public inquiry going on as we speak into the M&B (and Tuam) issue that happened in Ireland and that the findings there are due to be reported in February next year (2019).. Hopefully the practices that were pursued over there will lead to a more open dialogue as to what then also went on over here in the UK. I believe that many Irish mothers were shipped to the UK to have their babies, and think that this is what may have happened to my Mother.

So in my mind the Irish M&B and UK M&B issues are totally interlinked if not the same issue, and therefore the Catholic church has a lot more to answer for, then just the fact this was going on in Ireland. As we know Assisi existed and was a processing house for so called fallen women and their unborn children! I hate that whole part of it... why they treated these poor woman and new born as pariahs and not as humans.

I will continue doing my research into my background and trying to trace my family, If I don't succeed then nothing ventured nothing gained, my own son can if he wants to carry on pursing the truth and family we don't yet know.

With regards to any further info you may have on Assisi, either historic or new, I would be very interested in receiving any updates you come across.

Thanks for your time, correspondence and understanding.. I hope we speak soon

Best wishes
Damo

[mullion cove]

Hi Damian (or Damo, my name is Mary by the way!)
I have great sympathy with your search and will certainly let you know if I am able to find any more I formation that may be useful.  I think that often it is a small piece of the jigsaw that begins to make sense of it all.
As I have intimated, I have a very good friend who was adopted.  She wasn't told until she was 20 and then they wouldn't tell her anything else.  Her adoptive Mother died first.  When her Father died she found a suitcase of papers including her adoption papers.  It was 1943, wartime and she was privately adopted.  The papers gave her birth Mother's name and my friend's given given name which was Megan.  I have always had an interest in family history and so started to search for her.  To cut a very long story short, I was able to glean some information but the search suddenly went dead.  I put a post on Rootschat with all the information that I knew ( and was told off by a moderator because I had used names of people who could still be Alive!)  Fair comment, I hadn't read the conditions properly.  Several months later I received a post from someone who claimed to be related and living in America and then all the pieces fell into place - just like that! 
I say all if this to Let you know that nothing is impossible and even when dealing with places that hide behind the wall of religion, they will eventually be defeated.  The Catholic Church is being exposed as being an organisation full of corruption.
As I have already said, our friends from Churt were very involved in the Catholic Church in that area until the sex scandals that have been exposed in recent years.  They might know someone who could help with information, I am hopeful that they will remember something that will assist.
In the meantime - good luck with your search, and I will Get back in touch whatever the outcome.

  .

[mullion cove]

Just a quick comment, having read your post again, I can confirm that my husband's brother, who is 3 years older does remember that a lot iof the girls were Irish and he thinks that you are absolutely right that many girls were "shipped" off to Assisi to have their babies.

[Damian Keady]

Thank you Mary...

Your correspondence and info. is very much appreciated...

It is such a shame that the people who know all about this sorry saga still decide to say nothing... Well one day the truth will out as they say..

That said I will carry on regardless in my quest for knowledge... It is just a matter of time. And if I don't work it out then maybe my son will...

Best wishes as always
Damian