Old Scholar David Meader has written movingly about his time in one of the Spurgeons Children’s Homes Growing up in care is a challenge for any child. Especially when that child is an only child and has been effectively orphaned.…
Tag: Archives
Children’s Homes today and a reflection on our heritage
With a recent Observer investigation finding that more than 100 privately run children’s homes in England have been branded inadequate by inspectors, Spurgeons CEO Ian Soars responds to the news that children’s homes are failing in their duty of care…
Remembering Spurgeons House Parent Rose
Old Scholar Hilary Salisbury has let us know that sadly her mother, Rose Beerensson, has passed away. Rose and her husband Ralph moved Birchington to become House Parents with Spurgeons in 1959. Hilary says, ‘They were in Brooklands House for…
Old Scholars Reunion 2022
“Old Scholars” are those who formerly lived in Spurgeons Children’s Homes. On 18th June, the day before Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s birthday, we hosted a reunion of around 50 Old Scholars and 8 of their spouses at Kearns Hall, Birchington. Karen…
Loyal Royal service after missed coronation
Old Scholar Phillip Chancellor was born in 1946. He entered Spurgeons in 1950 at the age of 4 and left in 1961 at 15. He started at Birchington Hall in Stamford and then in Twynham. Ms Rutland was the Matron…
Spurgeons gave me the chance of a good start in life
Peter Szewcuzk arrived at Spurgeons Children’s Home Birchington Hall in 1958 aged 4, the only child of a Ukrainian mother, and was there until 1966. He shares a few of his memories. “I was in Mr and Mrs MacPherson’s house,…
Memories from Old Scholar John Christopher Jones
Our parents came to London from Wales in the late 1940s, looking for work. Dad was a bricklayer so there was plenty of bomb damage in London that needed repairing. But sadly, Dad died in January 1951. Mum struggled to…
Peter, Robert and Colin
In January 1960, three brothers were admitted to Spurgeons Homes at Birchington. Peter, Robert and Colin Shew were placed in Charlesworth House under Mr Willicome, where strict discipline was maintained, except for the one day of the Christmas party when…
Remembering Old Scholar Martin Lambie-Nairn
We were sad to learn of the passing of Martin Lambie-Nairn, a former Old Scholar, in December 2020, at the age of 75. Martin became a talented brand and graphic designer and was responsible, among other things, for designing the…
Cowboy outfits and Cod Liver Oil
Old Scholar Paul Board shares a slice of life, in poetry and prose, from his brief sojourn at Spurgeons former Children’s Home in Birchington. ”I grew up in the early sixties – I had two brothers and two sisters (and…