Barkingside for me was a godsend really. I wound up there after a short life of abuse and passing around. My mother and father separated when I was about 8 years old and I went to live with my mother who went to live with her boyfriend in another town, Aylesbury.

I hated Aylesbury with a vengeance. My mother died soon after and her boyfriend just took off, leaving me in the clutches of what can best be described as a family of sadistic torturers who mistreated me in every way imaginable. The mother of that family was a devils descendant. I was fed just 4 slices of bread per day and if I did something wrong, I got nothing. At night she would lock me in a bedroom then go out on the town.

Sometimes I would get the delicious smell of food cooking as she made dinner for the family but I was not included in that food. As each day passed I got thinner and thinner, but often I was sent on errands to the shops a mile away. During these trips I would look for scraps of food in the gutters and bins and this kept me going. Her 4 sons each had their own little tortures and I suffered even more abuse.

It took 2 years of that before the child protection agency caught up with her and made her deliver me to my father in London. On the way there she hissed in my face “ I am going to tell your dad all about how bad you have been, stealing food and money from us, cant be trusted and he will give you the biggest hiding you have ever had……you wait and see” By the time we got there I was terrified of what was going to happen to me. My father was out but his girlfriend who he had now married was there and I was asked to wait in another room while the adults talked. True to her threat the old woman began her tirade of untrue stories about me but being very careful not to tell them about the major beatings, the lack of food and clothing. I had only the clothes that I stood in…..and many other stories that made me look very, very bad.

During this session my father came home and I set eyes on him for the first time in years. He looked pretty much the same but there was no warmth, I remember that he took me down to the cellar and I was ready for a big beating but he just stood at looked at me for a few minutes then said “never steal anything from me ok?”

I let out a sigh of relief and assured him that I would never steal from him and so we became sort of friends but the poison that had been sprayed into his wife’s mind had poisoned her attitude to me. I tried really hard to please her for the next couple of months but to no avail. She saw me as a threat to their relationship and they fought every day that I was there. She wanted me out of there.

Finally my dad took me with him to where he was managing a pub in Greenwich and I stayed there at night on my own when he went home after the pub closed. I was a bit scared at night but it was still a big improvement on my previous life so I never complained. Then one day he told me that he was trying to get me into a boys’ home and if anyone asked I was to call him uncle.

Two months later someone came to the pub and took me directly to Dr. Barnardo’s Barkingside. Again I was scared so much that I was shaking like a leaf when we pulled into the big gates and I was ushered into the office. I expected to see a jailor ready to clap me in irons and throw me into a cell somewhere but instead a very friendly warm lady welcomed me like a long lost son and gently ushered me to what was to become my first cottage ….Violet.

Once inside the door of Violet I was introduced to the uncle who was Mr. Girtin. (not sure of the spelling) I was fed then taken to what was to become my bedroom to unpack my few possessions. I cried that night mostly through loneliness and uncertainty. I had been introduced to the other kids in the cottage but they were all strangers to me. It took several days before I began to settle down to the routine of life in Barnardo’s care during which time I was kitted out with clothes and enrolled in Fairlop school.

Within a week I had formed friendships with the other kids and for the very first time I felt that I actually belonged somewhere. It was a strange but warm feeling for me. There was more food that I had ever seen before. I had good clothes warm bed and free to roam around the grounds of the home as I wished. All new experiences for me.

There was a billiard table in one room which I soon became good at and many nights were spent playing board games and sometimes Mr. Girtin would play his mandolin for us. Life was good. My friendships grew and extended to other kids in the home and I actually began to settle down. On my Birthday I got a present. The first time that I had ever got any sort of present in many years. Then at Christmas time we all had a ball. Many nights we were taken to parties and functions where we were treated as special guests. We were given lots of toys and gifts and lots of yummy stuff to eat. It really was like heaven.

There was of course a down side and that was Sunday religion. Church in the morning was ok but Sunday school in the afternoon was a bit much with more church services at night. I was just a boy remember and during one boring Sunday school I let out a really loud fart. It was really loud and all of the other boys roared out laughing. The priest got to his feet and ordered the entire Violet cottage to go outside.

When we all got home the cottage uncle called the other boys into his office lounge one by one and after he called me in. He had completely changed into a different person. He had actually turned blue with anger and blamed the whole thing on me. He then took out a hairbrush and beat me with it. While he was hitting me he screamed at me “How dare you fart in church”. Over and over. I recon I would have got off easier if I had robbed  an old lady sigh…

After this he threatened me every chance he got. Although he never actually hit me again, his constant threats were very unsettling I pegged him as a religious nut. Within a few more weeks I was transferred to Croswell cottage on the permanent green. This time I settled down very quickly and I enjoyed the rest of my time there under Mr. Rankin till one day I was told that I was going to Australia.

The kid who slept in the bed next to me David, and I were both selected to join the Australia party of September 1955. We were moved back to the temp green to one of the cottages there then we were told to report to the cinema to learn about Australia. Once there we were shown the movie the Over Landers starring Chips Rafferty. This was our geography lesson and now we knew what to expect when we got there.

I remarked to Dave :” I cant even ride a bloody horse:” Dave agreed that this was not what we had expected and our fears were soothed somewhat by Tom Price who led our party. Next we were whisked off to Australia House for a complete medical. Now the biggest fear of any 12 year old boy is to get a boner at the wrong time, so when we were both made to strip naked and front up to be examined we were both a bit apprehensive. I was really dreading getting a boner but luckily didn’t get one. A different kid wasn’t so lucky, while we got dressed we heard a yell of pain and another naked boy was ushered in grabbing hastily at his clothes. When we asked what happened he told us that he got a boner and a nurse hit it with a ruler……he was there after referred to as foot long.

Our time at Barkingside was coming to a close. Apart from a few hiccups it was the best time of my childhood. Dr. Barnardo’s did have some nuts working for them but I don’t blame them for that. In that era good staffs were hard to get and I am sure that if these nuts had been identified earlier they would have been expelled very quickly. It must be understood that these people were very cleaver in disguising their activities and we were just kids who didn’t know better.

As far as I am concerned Dr. Barnardo’s fed and looked after me well during my stay at Barkingside. So during that September I set off for Mobray Park Picton, N.S.W. but that is a different story.

Jack King

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