Things started to look up as for breakfast we received a bowl of porridge, despite the fact it looked like grey wallpaper paste we could have a spoon full of brown sugar or jam. I ate mine quickly. After breakfast the children stood in groups these groups were age groups. There was the new-borns to twenty four months, twenty five months to three years then three and a half till four and five till six and then the final group seven to eleven.
The younger you were the easier the work was. The older children had to scrub the floors and iron clothes and make the food for lunch. The younger ones went into a small room and were read books. There were fourteen of us we were given pens and paper and told to write about why it is good to follow rules the older ones quickly began to attach pen to paper but I had only just turned five and had no real experience with writing or reading.
Mrs Callan next door had invited me round every Thursday she had taught me how to have proper conversations with people to ask for directions. She said all you need in life is passion and a sense of knowing where to go. She also taught me how to write my name and by the time I left I was able to read about twenty words. But I knew I could never write a sentence.
So I put my pen to paper and wrote what I could remember. The words sounded better in my head but they turned out like scribbles on the paper. When the time was up the second matron collected in our work and sent us off to clean the porch. The next day I found myself put into the group with the older children I soon discovered that if you didn't know how to read or write they would boost you up as they didn't want to waste their time .Alot of the older girls couldn't tread a write it seemed you were only taught for one year and then you were expected to work.
After I settled in it wasn't too bad I got used to two meals a day one at 7am and one at dinner were meals such as lump stew but I didn't complain as it tasted palatable. After doing chores I learnt that during the school term they put everybody in the dining hall and we had to copy letters and do maths. It took me a while but after about a year I was able to write a full paragraph and I found that maths was really easy. After that we would be able to go into the garden and play with football or skipping ropes. Then we would be sent to our rooms before dinner, all the girls would push the bed together and the older ones would tell stories. I made a lot of friends. Then we would have dinner go to bed and the day would start again.
From the age seven and up we were expected to look after the younger ones. On a Sunday when went to church we had to make sure that all the children looked smart and the girls had their hair in plaits. When new babies came we snuck into their rooms at night to comfort them as if they cried too much they would be locked in a room by themselves and many of the girls had younger brother and sisters.
Then one day the matron came up and told all the children over six to pack their bags. Just to make sure nobody pretended there were younger she read out the names. Then when we had packed our bags we were put onto buses. It was rather confusing but nobody got upset as this happened a lot.
Then we arrived at a much smaller house. The matron made us get off the bus and then she left. There was five of us we walked up to the door a woman with a hard stare showed us in and she showed us to the room we shared with twenty girls. The room had no beds just a few beds and a few blankets. The girls weren't friendly as soon as the matron lady left they pounced onto us and started to rummage through our cases. They took anything clothes, blankets, toys. But we did not want to lose our things so we fought a girl pulled my hair so I punched her it became a riot all the children we on top of each other I had gone from a home to a place that only cared about receiving money from the government. We were locked in a room and not given any meals. I spent the next seven years there. I learnt how to keep quiet.