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The overall position in 1974

4.01  On 1 April 1974 the new Clwyd County Council assumed responsibility for a resident population of about 378,000, of whom 105,350 were aged under 18 years. The total number of children in care was 542, of whom 451 were the subject of care orders, either full or interim, and the rest in voluntary care. There were 203 children in residential care and a similar number, 212, were in foster care."

Local authority community homes in Clwyd in 1974

  4.02  The local authority community homes then available within Clwyd were:    

  4.03  We have not received any complaints about (4), (7), (9), (10) (11) and (14) in this list and they are not referred to hereafter in this report in that context. The only complaint about (8) related to two incidents in 1972, outside the period of our review, and was levelled by one child against another. It has not, therefore been investigated. One witness only complained about (12), where he said that he was "belted". He left there, however, on 29 April 1974 and the home closed on 31 December 1982 so that it does not call for separate consideration.

Controlled community homes in Clwyd in 1974

  4.04  There was one controlled community home, namely, (18) Llanelwy in Holt Road, Wrexham. This had been opened in 1945 by the St Asaph Diocesan Board for Moral Welfare to give shelter to homeless girls. It provided accommodation for up to 16 girls. Then, in 1970, the Home Office recognised it as a voluntary children's home, at which places were established for six girls on remand. From 1973 it became a controlled community home managed by the Board (later the St Asaph Diocesan Association for Social Work) and Denbighshire County Council, in accordance with an instrument of management, providing 12 places for girls, of which three places were for girls on remand, as part of the Welsh Regional Plan. Education was provided in local schools and the residents had access to a child guidance clinic. In the Regional Plan (1971) it was envisaged that Little Acton would replace it in March 1973 as a placement for three girls on remand. The home was closed in 1978 and we know of no complaints about it.

Assisted community homes in Clwyd in 1974

  4.05  There was also an assisted community home, (19), Tanllwyfan, at 510 Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay. This had been opened in 1916 and was operated by the Boys and Girls Welfare Society. Under the Act of 1969 it became an assisted community home and it was designated as a special home for boys and girls in the junior age range, available to the North Wales counties, in the 1971 Regional Plan for Wales. The home was managed by the Society and Denbighshire (later Clwyd) County Council. In the 1971 Plan it had been designated to provide accommodation for 16 younger children but eventually it provided for up to 20 mainly older boys and girls as residents (18 in the 1979 Regional Plan). Education was available on the premises as well as at local schools, and child guidance and medical services were available. A note in the 1979 Plan stated that this home was to close as a community home with education in 1980/1981 and it eventually did so on 31 December 1984.

Other non-private residential establishments for children in Clwyd in 1974

  4.06  Another establishment having much of the character, but not the status, of a community home was administered latterly by the Clwydian Community Care NHS Trust. This was Gwynfa Residential Unit (or Clinic) (20), Pen-y-Bryn Road, Colwyn Bay. It was opened in 1961, for up to 16 children of both sexes from two to 13 years of age; and it was to serve as a centre for the investigation, assessment and treatment of children, from North Wales or elsewhere, showing severe emotional maladjustment, difficulties or abnormalities in personality development, or psychiatric disorder. As a rule, children who were considered capable of a definite degree of improvement were admitted on a short term basis for up to one year. At some stage the Unit accommodated up to 25 children and young persons and the age range was extended to 17 years. Until 1974 there was no consultant psychiatrist and the medical management of a child resident remained the responsibility of the child psychiatrist who referred the child. In April 1974, however, the Gwynedd child psychiatrist was designated as the co-ordinating consultant, providing two sessions per week; and a resident child psychiatrist was employed from 1981. The Unit was managed initially by the Clwyd and Deeside Hospital Management Committee but there were several changes of management structure in the following 30 years until the present NHS Trust took over the responsibility for the clinic on 1 April 1993. Gwynfa's functions were transferred to a new unit at the edge of Colwyn Bay (Cedar Court) in March 1997.

  4.07  It is necessary to mention here one other local authority establishment that did not open until April 1978. This is Ysgol Talfryn (21) at Brynford, near Holywell, which opened as a day school for a limited number of pupils with emotional and behavioural disorders. A residential unit opened in April 1980, however, and three similar units were added in quick succession to September 1982. The school could provide residential accommodation for up to 40 children and for an additional 25 to 30 day pupils, the age range being six to 16 years. But it was not listed as a community home in the 1979 Regional Plan. It remains open for day pupils only but its future is uncertain.

  4.08  The only other voluntary establishment in Clwyd listed in the 1971 Regional Plan was St Clare's Convent, Pantasaph, near Holywell, which remained registered as a voluntary children's home until 1976. It provided accommodation for six children but was closed in 1976, probably as the result of the disastrous fire at the nearby monastery. It had been managed by the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy and its role was taken over by Petit House, Albert Avenue, Flint, and our Lady of the Taper home, owned and operated by the Catholic Children's Society (Wales) and the Menevia Family Social Service. Petit House was registered with the Secretary of State for Wales in September 1977 and provided accommodation for 18 children between the ages of one and 16 years until it closed in October 1985. We have not received any complaint about either St. Clare's Convent or Petit House.

Private children's homes and schools in Clwyd in 1974

  4.09  There were quite a number of private children's establishments for varying purposes within the administrative county of Clwyd during the period under review but comparatively few were registered because there was no requirement at that time for private children's homes to register. In the course of our Inquiry our attention has been focussed on the private residential establishments owned by three separate organisations, namely, the Bryn Alyn Community, Care Concern and Clwyd Hall for Child Welfare, because it is about these that most complaints in the private sector have been made.

Bryn Alyn Community

  4.10  In this group of three, the Bryn Alyn Community stands out because of the large volume of complaints covering almost the whole period of our review. This private organisation was incorporated by John Allen as a limited company in 1972. He had acquired in 1968 the lease for 21 years of Bryn Alyn Hall, a substantial property in Llay New Road on the outskirts of Wrexham, with 50 acres of land and, although he had had no formal training of any kind, he had opened Bryn Alyn Hall as a children's home for up to 20 boys in the age range of 11 to 16 years. He had started with three boys from north east England and one from Liverpool and had circulated a booklet about his project to most of the local authority children's departments in England and Wales.

  4.11  The history of the Community is dealt with in detail later in this report, in Chapter 21, and it need only be summarised here. By 1974 Bryn Alyn Community Ltd had acquired the freehold of Bryn Alyn Hall, which was eventually divided and extended into three "houses", called Askew House, Blackley House and Lindisfarne, and the company had acquired three other properties. The first of these additional properties, 26 Talbot Road, Wrexham, was bought by Allen in about 1970 to provide hostel accommodation for about ten working adolescents. The second property was Pentre Saeson Hall, a more modest country house than Bryn Alyn Hall, at Bwlchgwyn, in the same general area, which opened on 27 September 1970 and was intended to provide accommodation for up to 20 boys between the ages of 11 and 13 years, that is, for rather younger boys than most of those at Bryn Alyn Hall. Finally in this particular list, John Allen had purchased in 1972, in his own name but on trust for the Bryn Alyn Community, Bryntirion Hall in Mold Road, Caergwrle, with which he intended to provide hostel accommodation for 15 boys in the range of 16 to 18 years. In his oral evidence Allen said that three local authorities in particular Manchester, Newcastle and Wirral, placed substantial numbers of boys with the Community with the result that, by 1975, over 70 were being accommodated.

Care Concern

  4.12  Care Concern was the idea of David Rattray, a former Deputy Director of Social Services for Denbighshire, who owned a property called Ystrad Hall on the A5 road near Llangollen in the direction of Corwen. The property comprised Ystrad Hall itself, an hotel run by Rattray as a business and known as Eirianfa Hotel, together with 14 acres of land. Rattray recruited the Officer-in-Charge or Superintendent of Bersham Hall, Richard Ernest Leake, who had been in post for about two years, to establish a residential school for emotionally disturbed boys aged 11 to 16 years at Ystrad Hall. Leake was appointed Principal of the school and a number of staff, including David White, the senior teacher (later headmaster), were also recruited from Bersham Hall.

  4.13  The new school was opened in 1974 and provisionally registered in September that year as an independent school. Separate from the school were two residential units for a total of 55 boys, called Eirianfa (for boys between 11 and 14 years) and Ystrad Hall (14 to 16 years). Full registration was granted in October 1975 and the school remained registered until May 1981, when it closed mainly because of declining numbers. When the school was first registered the proprietors spoke of an intention to move it to a site near Conway but this did not take place. In late 1976, however, the project was expanded when another school, Cartref Melys, (in the Sychnant Pass) near Conway, became available. Care Concern acquired this and it provided accommodation for 25 emotionally disturbed boys in the same age range as Ystrad Hall. It was at this time that the name Care Concern was adopted by the organisation and Leake became Assistant Director of Professional Services.

  4.14  The residential accommodation at Ystrad Hall was damaged by fire at the end of 1979 or early 1980 where upon the pupils were moved temporarily to another school nearby, recently acquired by Care Concern. This was St David's College, Carrog, about two miles from Corwen. On their return to Ystrad Hall the school closed as a home for boys as already stated, as did Cartref Melys five years later in 1986. It appears, however, that Care Concern had started to provide education for girls at St David's College and, after Ystrad Hall closed to boys, it was re-opened by Care Concern as Berwyn College, a residential home for girls with learning difficulties, replacing St David's College. Berwyn College was registered from 13 August 1981 to 31 March 1985 and it did admit some boys during the period of industrial action by residential care staff.

  4.15  There was a further acquisition by Care Concern when Hengwrt Hall at Rhydymain, five miles from Dolgellau in the Bala direction, was purchased in or about 1976. It was provisionally registered as an independent school on 12 August 1976 and its subsequent history is summarised in paragraph 5.09.

  4.16  Care Concern's operations also embraced Westminster House, Chester (a halfway house), Firs Mount, Colwyn Bay (a home for severely mentally handicapped adults) and The Village, Llangwyfan (previously a tuberculosis sanatorium and used by Care Concern as a home for adults but catering for some teenagers).