Bridget Holley (nee McDonough) lived in Townmead Road after the War and was a special child. She was diagnosed with a heart condition and was sent to the Queensmill School in Fulham - a special school for the 'physically handicapped'. In August of 2008 Bridget appeared on the ITV programme 'The Way We Were' and spoke of her time at Queensmill and in particular a school holiday spent at Bognor Regis.

Although money was in short supply in her family and Bridget had to do mainly with her cousin's cast offs she was treated to a new bathing costume for her week's holiday. Said Bridget;  "I had a very lairy costume. It was very brightly coloured and I had a swim hat to go with it. I was proud of it at the time but looking back it stood out a bit more than I Iiked it to."

There was another perk to the holiday. "We had chalets. Lots of children shared but I was lucky to have one of my own. I never had a bedroom to myself before. I loved it. I could do my own thing in 'my little house' "

But there was a daily routine Bridget wasn't keen on- the afternoon's rest. "I hated to be doing nothing at all, just lying there. Of course I was the biggest fidget there as well. Bridget the fidget that was me. I got called that all the time.

From left to right: (Top) Bridget Holley talking on the ‘Where We Were; Bridget and her mother.

(Bottom): Bridget and fellow Queensmill pupil Vera Saunders who also appeared on the programme; Bridget and fellow pupils on the beach at Bognor. 

Now read Bridget's story of how her illness was discovered; the difficulty doctors had treating it and the uncertainty and anxiety she experienced at the time.

One morning as I was sitting in class at Langford listening to Ms Fox tell us what new torture she had in store for us that day, I quite suddenly felt a little dizzy (and not for the first time) but on this occasion there were consequences - I fell to the floor - unconscious!  The next thing I knew was my mother was with me and I was in hospital!  Another new experience!  After a blood test, X-rays etc I was sent home with a inconclusive diagnosis. Perhaps I was lacking oxygen or maybe I was just a very anxious child or had fallen to a bug of some kind.  The upshot of all this was that the doctor decided to send me to the Elizabethan Open Air School in Broomhouse Lane.

The school was to say the least unusual. We had breakfast, lunch and tea, there. I know that the doctor thought that I was undernourished so I suspect that that was his motive for my change of school.  The classrooms were like square bandstands, enclosed at the bottom and open at the top.  It was like having lessons on a big square balcony.  During the summer it was very pleasant but in winter a good thick coat with a hood was the most desirable school uniform.

The teachers were kind, smiling and approachable. The children all had health problems of one sort or another so they too were approachable and I made friends. To get to school I had to walk from Townmead Road to Hamble Street where I knocked on the door of the Palmer family. Olive Palmer was about four or five years older than me. She was a girl with a kind and gentle nature but a severe asthmatic. She was very pale and thin with brown eyes and hair. Because I was only seven, it was thought best I walked to school with an older child. We progressed from her house to South Park - my favourite bit of our trudge to school.  Olive was very responsible for her age. I was never allowed to have a swing on the way to school or indeed on the way home. If I wanted to play in the park I had to ask my mother. Sadly, Olive died during an asthma attack when she was only seventeen years old.  I have to say that I was devastated to lose her and absolutely horrified to realize that even children died!  I was torn with grief  for her family. Even to this day I remember Olive with great affection. 
 
Whilst I was attending The Elizabethan Open Air School one of my ‘out patient’ visits to hospital revealed what was actually wrong with me. I had a heart condition! It is known as WPW syndrome (Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome). Apparently, a very unusual condition and in those days they didn’t know how to treat it or even if they could.  Another change of school was on the horizon but before that a spell in hospital.  I was sent to a hospital in West Wickham, Kent where I spent several unhappy months.  We were not allowed any visitors for the first six weeks because it unsettled the children when they couldn’t go home with their parents. I can tell you it was more unsettling to feel abandoned by one’s family. During my stay there my brother Roy came to see me to tell me that he was going into the army to do his National  Service. He would be away from home two whole years. It felt as if he was going off to war. I was so angry with him for going that I wouldn’t speak a word to him on his last visit. He told my mum that he was very worried about my being so subdued. Anyhow, it wasn’t too long after that that I was back in ‘dear old Fulham’.

In their wisdom the doctors decided that I should go to Queensmill School, in Lysia Street, off Fulham Palace Road.  It was a school for children with ‘special needs'. In those days they called it ‘physically handicapped'.  We were taken to school and brought home again by school bus.

My first day at school brought back the horror of Ms Fox, only this lady went by the name of Miss Perry. She had grey hair, tweeds and stout brogues. She seemed permanently cross with an angry scowl on her face. I was rescued by the headmistress Mrs Moffatt who decided that I should be in the next class which was a relief because the teacher there was Mrs Smith; silver haired, gentle, short. plump with a soft voice and smiling face.

Read more of Bridget's childhood experiences in the Townmead Road section of 'Where We Lived'