11 Comments Posted by donnaweiller

Closed in HAHA try being inside Whitingham Hospital Preston now there's a laugh

One of the things they tried at Whittingham was my gaurdian was a day patient she told us as kids that she was working full time as a cleaner at the hospital and we never questioned this, the hosptial had a policy that if the patient was given as normal a life as possible they could be intergrated, THAT was supposed to be forward thinking in the very early 70's now the UK has a high proportion of homeless mentally ill people on the streets. Whittingham is now waiting as like Danvers to be turned into housing, it had it's own rail link, post office and church even a duck pond which was very unusual given the fact residents were likely to throw themselves in! I spent half of my childhood being brought up by a relative that suffered mental illness and until recently did not know that they were an actual patient. Given responsibilties earned a wage and brought home the bacon. I know this does not work in every patient all people suffer in different ways but my Gaurdian was given a chance. Whittingham tried the intergration system, in house fighting did not help either when they knew the Government at least in the UK were no longer willing to fund such Institution's.
This so called gaurdian accused my dad of being the Yorkshire Ripper and was arrested and kept in custody for 4 days turns out he had got into a drunken fight in town and been scratched by his mates girlfriend, I wont bother going into detail on how I spent my childhood with a gaurdian who really should have been a full time patient (use your imagination's it was not pleasant) but the whole intergration thing did nothing for me it just gave the Government an excuse to stop funding important facilities were people could feel they actually belonged good or bad. No one is ever going to agree on wether these places are good or bad in my case I hope there will always be somewhere for mentally ill people to go too. You never know when the balance is going to tip and those great big doors are going to open for yourself it is people like you Lynne that keep us informed and up to date which I am quite happy to say is a good thing. You don't have to have a mental illness to know what it is like. Living with someone who does is not a barrel of laughs. It is very Sad :(

Fair comment Lynne, I have lived with someone who was supposed to be a gaurdian to me and they spent their working life in an asylum (as a patient at Whittingham Hospital UK Preston Lancashire) So living and breathing with a person who suffers from mental illness can make it seem sad.

Great new gallery I dont usually post much but this one for some reason pulled the old heart strings you are welcome in the UK anytime Mr Motts come and visit soon

And now I lay me down to sleep!!!!!!!!

I can imagine fingers poking thru the mesh outstretching looking for human contact and affection. So sad :' (

Ohhhhh a mini Danvers : )

The pictures so far look like the interior of a court house grand marble and ornate detail. Maybe giving the illusion of authority.

Looks like someone was an Opeth fan excellent Swedish Death Metal Band.

I live in England and signed the online petition to save Danvers, not far from me is an asylum that is going to be torn down so it seems no matter were you live these old buildings mean nothing to some, which is disgraceful 8(

Did you go down into the tunnels were they sent people when they had typhoid? Or is too dangerous now?