New Hope For Britain s Handicapped Children

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31027, 5 April 1966, Page 2

New Hope For Britain s Handicapped Children

IBy

REG EASON]

A pioneer experiment in Gloucestershire, is opening a new horizon for parents of mentally handicapped children. It has given the children a new sense of purpose and a future. So encouraging are the results that the expansion of the experiment is planned.

The plan concerns the Home Farm Trust at Frocester Manor, near Stroud. Set in attractive grounds at the foot of the Cotwolds is a converted 150-year-old, 18-bedroom house and a newly-built £BOOO hostel.

There 19 boys, four girls and a staff of six have become a partly self-supporting family. On 13 acres vegetables for sale to shops and to Gloucester market are grown. Pigs, cattle, and 1000 head of poultry are also kept. There are workshops for carpentry and maintenance, and plans for weaving and making concrete blocks. Pre-packag-ing the food produced has been started.

The man at the heart of the scheme is Mr Peter Forbes, aged 47, a former teacher at a school in Bristol for handicapped children. Once a surrealist painter, and with a farming background, he is the inspiration and driving force behind the venture. Brimful of ideas, Mr Forbes is also a man of action. Officially, he is the general manager, but everything revolves around him. ‘He is also the “house father,” the link with all the children, whose ages range from 16 to 20; the man who sells the goods they produce; who works with and advises them: who plans ahead for the community village that is the next goal, and, just as vital, who harnesses the astonishing enthusiasm of the parents. The Home Farm Trust was started in 1962. Its object is to offer security and care for life for children incapable of

holding their own in the outside world. Ten of every 1000 children born in England come into this category. When their parents die, many face life in a hostel or go to an occupational or industrial centre where they are limited to simple, repetitive jobs that no-one else will do. “1 started this for two reasons,” said Mr Forbes, “for the youngsters, to give’ them a completely new life, and for the parents. Most of us do not understand the problems involved for them. Although we are taking the children away from parents, this is not rejection by them. Parents must remain morally and financially responsible for their children.” All the children have four weeks’ holiday a year. Some go home on Sundays. No fees are charged. Parents give what they can afford in cash—or in “talents.” One organises the annual fete. Another “acquires” things that will be useful. A third group collected 250,000 trading stamps to present the community with a spin-drier and a cooker. They have their own news letter and know no limits in their fund-raising efforts. All the furniture has been presented. Six Round Tables have “adopted” the children and have helped with fund-

raising and other activities. The working day begins at 6.30 a.m.—and ends for the staff at 9 p.m. Some of the results are astonishing. Boys who did not know a hoe from a rake now do 75 per cent of the work, and also are helped to improve their reading and writing, as well as do other studies within their grasp. The children have their own greenhouses, have made paths, and have erected two huts, one for poultry, the other for their own wet-day activities. Soon they will even have their own “pub”— the Frocester Manor Inn—selling soft drinks. VOLUNTEERED TO STAY “At Christmas they all stayed voluntarily,” said Mr Forbes. “They have lost the feeling of insecurity. They are a family.” His own part he dismisses. “It is a job I enjoy thoroughly. It gives me great satisfaction.” Mr Forbes and the governors have their minds firmly set on building a village. They want to find a 300 to 500-acre site within two years. “What we really want,” said Mr Forbes, “is a large ‘white elephant’ estate, bounded on one side by a secondary road. It may cost £lOO,OOO to buy the land and build the village.” Great care will go into the building. Mr Forbes said he hoped to encourage governors and parents, when they retired, to build their own houses in the village and continue to play an active part in running it—as salesmen for what was produced, as instructors, and in many other ways. One of the greatest problems is staff. “I want young people to come in and take over. We want new blood, new ideas, a new approach. The great health of this scheme is that we must always be prepared to change and accept new ideas,” he said.

Applications have been received from Spain, South Africa and New Zealand, but Mr Forbes emphasised that he could consider new entrants only on a life-long care basis. He could not take children for only a few years.