For the former residents of a children's home, an annual reunion in Sidcup can be the nearest they get to that trip home to see the family which most of us take for granted. LINDA PIPER finds out more.



EVERY year, men and women from all over the UK and beyond make a pilgrimage back to their childhood days.

For many of them, it will bring back bittersweet memories because they are the Homesy Boys, the children who grew up at The Hollies children's home in Sidcup.

They were among thousands of boys and girls who spent many years at the home, in Halfway Street, run by Southwark Council.

Opened in the early 1900s under the Poor Law, it was built on 62 acres of land to support up to 500 children.

Self-sufficient, with its own school, laundry, infirmary, farm, stables, swimming baths and gym, the children were, for many years, kept completely separate from the community.

Boys lived apart from the girls and children were separated from their brothers and sisters.

In later years, the children did mix in with the community and attended Burnt Oak Primary School in nearby Burnt Oak Lane.

This year, for the first time, the school also opened its doors for the reunion.

More than 150 people, the oldest aged over 90, turned out for this year's event, which was held in the home's former gym, now a private club for the upmarket housing estate which has replaced the home.

The home closed in 1989 but some of the houses where the children lived, which were named after trees, and other buildings from the home, have been conserved.

And last year, for the first time, the estate allowed the former children's home residents to hold their annual reunion at The Hollies instead of a nearby pub.



BOOK REVEALS WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE
ANOTHER book about life at The Hollies, written by one of its former residents, has just been published.

Joyce Shurmer, 63, and her husband Eric (pictured) were both at The Hollies and returned there for this year's reunion, where she launched her book, The Homesie Kids.

The couple, who have been married for 40 years, met at the home when Mrs Shurmer was just nine.

She went to The Hollies in the 1950s with her two brothers after their mother became mentally ill.

Mr Shurmer suffered neglect and abuse at the hands of his parents and was placed in the home for his own safety.

The book also charts Mrs Shurmer's parents' long and desperate fight to reunite the family.

She said: "I have lived with this story for a long time.

"I was thrilled to be able to launch it surrounded by people whose lives have also been shaped by their time in The Hollies."

This latest book is one of several about life at the children's home written by former residents.

The group which organises the reunion has its own book, The Hollies Children's Home Through the Eyes of a Child, written by Paul Krawczynski, which is available through its website at hollieskids.co.uk Another book called The Hollies, written by Gerry Coll and historical researcher Jad Adams, is available through Bexley Local Studies and Archive Centre, Central library, Towley Road, Bexleyheath.

Mrs Shurmer's book is available by emailing eric.joy.shurmer@talktalk.net It costs £7.99 and proceeds will be divided equally between the NSPCC and mental health charity Mind.