Roffey Park, Horsham
Oral History Interview 1st July 2013, with Brian Tye, on time spent in Roffey Park Hospital, Horsham, 1969 to 1982, then G3 (Tri-Star), Crawley Hospital, that later became Langley Green, up to the 1990s.
By Jon Potter, with Thomas France recording.Jon
Okay, this is an interview with Brian Tye, on 1 July 2013, and we are in the, outside space just beside Park Barn in Horsham. I am going to start off by asking you about whether you remember any particular people from that time in Roffey Park Hospital
Brian
Yes, I remember certain characters, um, there was a girl called Rosemarie Turner who was really very very bad, really quite ill, really ill, and actually at the moment … I live in sheltered accommodation now, and her mum lives in that complex, and apparently she's married, with kids, and she's absolutely well, absolutely well, you know I'd never believe that. And there was a Dennis, Dennis somebody, a big tall chap, who used to come round scrounging cigarettes, and money out of everybody. There was one chap, one girl called Liz, Liz Johnston, who um, did a jump, off the banisters, but it landed on a poor old chap's knee, and broke his leg, and he always had a limp, a bad leg. She was all right, but she landed on his knee.
Jon
He was another patient?
Brian
Another patient yes, so he received terrible injuries, to his leg, and she was perfectly all right.
Jon
Just um, I know you have described this already but, tell us, when you first went in, what age you were and how long you stayed
Brian
I was 19, when I first went in, and I used to be in for three, four, five, six, seven, months, whatever. Several months because you wouldn't be out after just a week or two if you had gone to Roffey Park, I mean, the least you would be in for you'd be there about three months so, it went up to 6 months seven months. And then I would be discharged, then I would be in again, then after a few months discharged, in again and that's how it went on until 1982.
Jon
And tell us about your medication.
Brian
Oh, I was on a hell of a lot of medication, about, about 12, 13 tablets up to 4 times a day at the worst, but never less than about 30 tablets a day, but the amount of tablets a day, all for mental health, not for physical, I'm on quite a few now, but a lot of them are for other things, like diabetes, and other problems, but, there, all the medication was purely for mental health. I was on a good 30 to 50 tablets a day I would say, roughly.
Jon
And what's your thoughts about that now?
Brian
I don't believe it's good, it's no good masking the problem, because that's just masking it, it's quieten you down, so you don't cause a nuisance, and a problem, and it doesn't really help. It doesn't cure the problem, it doesn't help the problem.
Jon
And did you have other treatments as well?
Brian
Yes, ECT, I used to have several of them, I had about four groups of them, I had eight each time, so that would um, during my 12, 13 years in and out of Roffey Park, I had about 32 in all, for lots of eight. You had 8 to 10 at a time, you know it all depends what you needed, and that was usually about once or twice, about twice a week.
Jon
So was that common?
Brian
That was common yes, to do ECT, it was popular.
Jon
And what do you feel about that, now?
Brian
I don't think it's, much good either though, it can sometimes work, they still actually do it, rarely, but they still do it occasionally, but it's not thought of as great use. It makes you lose your memories a little bit for a while, some say it makes you forget your memories for a long while, and I think it does since my memory is, well I remember things, but you have got people who say that they, that their memory is a lot more decrease since they have had the ECT. A lot of them. But it definitely gives you short memory loss, but you regain it, normally you regain it after a few days.
Jon
And I know that you mentioned that, is it Dr Parker, some psychiatrist
Brian
Dr Parker yes
Jon
Tell us about him.
Brian
Well everyone loved him, he was a lovely man, lovely psychiatrist, he was Head of the um, psychiatry there and there was about four doctors in all, and I actually see him now you know, I see him socially now, and talk to him, still call him Dr Parker out of respect I know his first name, but I don't use his first name
Jon
And have you had any conversation with him about the treatment
Brian
No, I've never mentioned the treatment, no, it's always, we have had Christmas parties with Dr Parker, and I have sat next to him a couple of times, and we are just chatting away, but never about mental health, you know he doesn't talk about it, and I don't talk about it.
Jon
So tell us about the activities
Brian
Oh, lots of activities, well they had a gym, a fully equipped gym, quite a big one, they had tennis courts, and you could play badminton, and I do believe, there was a trampoline as well. Or they could put one up, and so you could play badminton, tennis, and you had all sorts of occupations like arts and crafts and pottery and um, woodwork shop, and a bit further along the drive, there was a metal workshop, they used to that for a while, but not, that died down after a while, because there was so many accidents, I believe was the reason why they stopped that. The woodwork went on for years, there was a chap who used to do it, Les, Les, I forget his surname.
Jon
And the shop as well
Brian
Yeah, there was a shop, a little shop, open about two or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, except for Sunday's, oh and Sundays yes and Sundays as well, and you could buy cigarettes there. Not a great supply, but you could buy cigarettes there. It was full of sweets, but people didn't really want the sweets, so they bought the cigarettes but no matches, you had to find your own way of getting a lighter or matches, and I think at first you could even smoke inside but that didn't last long. There was plenty of grounds outside where you could smoke so, you know lovely lovely grounds in, huge grounds, greenhouses, and, up and running greenhouse, somebody to do the, they employed a woodwork teacher, a metalwork teacher, lady who does the gym, a German lady, does relaxation and gym activities, and then the O T, four psychiatrists, Dr Parker being the, in charge, it was quite a, if you didn't want to do nothing, especially the old 76 summer, when it was so warm, 76, it was mostly too hot to do much so we mostly done relaxation outside and just sat and fanned yourself so…
Jon
And sometimes you would take trips out?
Brian
Yes, I used to take trips out, my own personal trips, I used to wander off down to the Cherry Tree, have a pint or two, but if they wondered where I was, they knew where I went to, I was caught being down there, they used to just ring up, George, what was his name, the landlord, anyway. But in the end I started to diverse to another area, I started to go to Norfolk instead, because that way you don't have to cross the road, I just walked through the forest, ferns and stakes, and made my way to the Norfolk Arms, and I used to drink there, but I got caught to there.
Jon
You could wander out without problems.
Brian
Yeah, there was no, nothing to stop you, no barbed wire or high fence or locked gates it was free and easy, in and out, there was no high security.
Jon
And a ballroom you mentioned
Brian
Yes, there was a lovely ballroom, it was built for a wedding in the hall, and the hall after the wedding, the daughter of the person who used to live there, so I believe, it was built on after the house was built, in the late 19th century, 20th century, about 18, 1900, and the ballroom was built in about 1910 for the wedding.
Jon
So, do you think, that the experience changed you? And if so, in what way
Brian
It changed to meet a lot compared, compared with these days, I loved it and I hated it, I loved, I missed the place, really missed the place and at the same time being told I'm going back there, gave a feeling of dread. But at the same time I actually miss it now, I actually miss it now. A lovely place, so, a bit like a hotel really, you know, carpeted all round, lovely little place, and you know that they had a three-quarter length snooker table as well, and darts. Mustn't forget about the snooker table, I used to play snooker a lot.
Jon
So what did you hate about it?
Brian
I just wanted to be back with my wife, you know just not being able to go home to my mum and that, I used to just miss them. We had to share dormitories, lovely dormitories though, they had females dormitories and male dormitory
Jon
How many people in a dormitory?
Brian
It wasn't a great deal, about 10 in a dormitory, could be about five beds each side, 10 in a dormitory, they had single rooms, I have been in a single room as well, which are upstairs, most of them
Jon
How would you get a single room
Brian
It all depends if the dormitories were um, normally the dormitory's would be just newly admitted, and it was right next to the office, a dormitory there, dormitory to the left dormitory to the right of the office. So the office was right there, you know if you had just been admitted it, and were a bit severe to start with, you would be nearer them, nearer the office but if you improved then you would be chucked upstairs and…
Jon
And if, you had separate male and female dormitories
Brian
Yes we did
Jon
But for all other activities was it all
Brian
Mixed, yes all mixed.
Jon
And what about mealtimes
Brian
Mealtimes, we had four square meals a day. Three cooked ones and a supper in the evening. And they, a complete dining room, huge dining room, where they rang the bell when it was ready, and they used to serve you, did they? I'm not sure if they served you or not, but you know they had a pudding, soup, pudding, dessert, the meals was lovely. It wasn't sort of brought in it was cooked there, in the kitchen. And I knew people that worked in the kitchen, in later life; you know they worked in the kitchen. One of the ones who worked in the kitchen became very ill in the end so, ended up as a patient.
Jon
I mean, if it hadn't been for the huge medication, and the ECT
Brian
I might have been better years ago…
Jon
It doesn't sound very rehabilitative to me
Brian
It wasn't very rehabilitative, the occupations and activities and the grounds were nice but you was really drugged, you know you were completely comatose and, the main aim was there wouldn't be any scraps or fights or bad tempered patients. You know, don't want people to go into a state, you know trying to do that but they used to just keep you quiet by giving a lot of sedatives. You know I was on about, Valium that I was on more than 10 mg four times a day, and that was just one lot of tablets and you know how addictive they are, diazepam is, and that was just one of my many many tablets.
Jon
Do you remember any particular sensations, smells or things that you touched from that time.
Brian
Yeah, there was a what I did like was I like the smell of old things, it had that smell, it's completely different, you don't get it, I've got to this smell before when I've been to the open air Museum down south somewhere, open air Museum. But yeah, whenever I go anywhere where I have got to that ancient smell I love, the memories, and yet it ain't good memories really, but they are memories where you was completely zonked. So did I like being completely zonked or not, I don't really know. But I don't think it. done you good, any good.
Jon
So you were there 69 till about 82, almost 13 years, and you don't think it did much good?
Brian
If you was there that long, it didn't bring success did it, really.
Jon
So in 82, why was it that you stopped going there.
Brian
Because it closed down, closed down in 83, early 83, they sold it, I think they sold it for 4 million, or 1 million.
Jon
And what was your treatment after that?
Brian
Crawley Hospital, G3, and then it was called Tri-Star, and then not soon after that, wasn't long after that then Rose Ward was built, and Lavender day in, in the back of Horsham hospital. So you had a local hospital nearer than Roffey Park, that's in Feygate you see
Jon
So now the provision for this area is Langley Green
Brian
Yeah, which again is, that's also for Haywards Heath, Crawley, lots of areas, Crawley, Horsham, and they have a bit more wards.
Jon
So just to go over that again, G3 and Tri-Star
Brian
Same ward, but they just changed the name.
Jon
Do you remember any humorous moments, I know you have told us about the woman jumping off the balcony but, were there other things that you remember… Because they were comic or odd
Brian
Not a great deal of happy memories, there was lots of suicides there, there was lots of people hung themselves in the woods, and all sorts of places, and jump in front of buses and cars. Regularly, someone, I mean every few months someone killed themselves.
Jon
And actually, people were able to go out, out of choice, quite easily in and out
Brian
And commit suicide yes
Jon
And what was the hospital's reaction to that?
Brian
It wasn't, um, it was in the papers quite a bit, and I don't think the hospital got a very good press. I don't know if that's why they decided to close it down, because there was no security, people were just getting out, people were committing suicide, I know several people who died, and it's quite heart breaking. So there wasn't a great deal of happiness there but it was nice and relaxing, you were drugged up so that's why you would relax after a time, and there was all the nice grounds and activities but, it was a sad place. A lot of people lost their lives there through… They were treated well by the staff, I think the staff were excellent. Very nice staff, and I got on well with the staff, still see some of them now, but am, even though people were completely drugged up, they still, and you know there was nothing to stop them wondering out to the main road down by the Cherry tree and finding the next bus and walking in front of it which is quite horrible. I won't go into detail of those people who got killed because it wouldn't be right but… I won't give names anyway.
Jon
Well I think that's wonderful material, is there anything that you think we haven't covered, or Tom, anything you think we should talk about…
Tom
The best of times and the worst of times
Brian
The best of times and the worst of times yes, I miss the place, yet at times I dreaded the place
Tom
It's what's made you a man
Brian
Yeah, yes.
