John Ramwell

FROM ESTATE HAND TO HOSPITAL PRISON OFFICER TO GOVERNOR - 1960 TO 1997 MY TIME ON THIS SIDE OF THE BARS.

HM BORSTAL GAYNEs HALL

I spent eight happy years at this establishment. Four as a Hospital Officer and four as a Senior Hospital Officer.

The Deputy Governor of Rochester, Martin Burnett, was promoted to Governor of an open Borstal in the middle of the Cambridgeshire countryside. It was called Gaynes Hall. He soon took one of the Rochester Principal Officers along with him, also on promotion, Chief Officer Tom Whiteman; a man I had a great deal of respect for. When the Hospital Officer at Gaynes moved on leaving a vacancy - it was a single hospital officer posting - I was asked by Mr Whiteman whether I would be interested in joining them. At first the staff at Gaynes thought it was about to be taken over by the Rochester mafia. I suspect this invitation was largely down to my enthusiasm for sport. Thus ensued the best eight years of my service life.

Gaynes was an open borstal; no locks, walls or fences. If a lad wanted to 'abscond' he just chose his moment and walked or ran away. This option was not chosen too often. They were soon apprehended and then were denied the opportunity of open conditions - so there was a high price. The heart of the borstal was the 'Big House' - pictured - used for Governor’s Residence and the Administration Department.

I worked with and to the local GP practice at Kimbolton and the senior partner, Dr. Grainger used to visit a couple of times a week and, of course, was on call in any emergency. I very rarely called upon the practice as I developed a good working relationship with the local hospital, Huntingdon County Hospital and with the famous hospital at Cambridge, Addenbrookes. I was able to refer my patients directly for such as Xrays and blood tests as well as appointments. The important rule was to ensure that the Kimbolton Practice were always fully aware of every decision and action I took and never to exceed my remit as a Hospital Officer. Suffice to say this was not ever clearly stated and the boundaries were, to say the least, somewhat wragged. Consequently within this rule I was given a lot of licence and tried to make best use of it. The local chemist in Kimbolton supplied our drugs and ordering and taking delivery was formally done under the auspices of the GP practice but in reality I was given a free hand to spend our drugs grant as I saw fit.

On the subject of spending my medical grant it is worth touching on the whole issue of funding those years ago. I received the various grants each April at the start of the financial year. Dental grants, Drugs grants, etc. By September it was expected that I would have spent my annual allowance and I would receive supplementary budgets. It appeared that the attitude from the Medical Directorate was that if you had not run out of your funding you had either asked for far too much in the first place or were not doing your job to capacity. Money, it seemed, was no object. Then it all changed as funding and tight accountability came together in close partnership. It has to be said, it was good whilst it lasted.

Unofficially, it was accepted that I was to be the front line for any member of staff and their families injured or taken suddenly sick. On top of this I was often asked to attend to domestic pets and injured wildlife (usually birds with broken wings brought to me by local children) in need of some first aid. In short I felt I had a lot of responsibility and consciously attempted to measure up.

The lads sent to Gaynes Hall were meant to have been medically assessed and passed fit for our regime though several slipped the net and had to be returned to Wormwood Scrubs for reallocation. So up to a point I ruled over my own small empire of an open ward and a couple of side rooms together with a surgery cum office, a dark room - I used to take and develop teeth Xrays on new arrivals as part of the reception procedure at 11 pence per film - and a dental surgery. The dentist, Jeff Turner from Cambridge, turned up every Wednesday. We became good friends and I used to crew for him on his yacht off the east coast.

So it was a happy ship and a good billet for me. I managed the cross country running team, played with the Borstal rugby team and built up a small flotilla of kayaks to form the Gaynes Hall Canoe Club.

The Chief Officer, Tom Whiteman, insisted I take the Senior Officers exam. My reluctance was due to the fact I might be posted on to another establishment should I pass. An 'insistence' from Mr Whiteman could not be ignored and so I took the exam and passed it. In the event I was really fortunate in being posted as a Hospital Senior Officer to ....... Gaynes Hall. At the last minute I had received a reprieve. A decision was taken in high places that all singleton postings should be manned by an HSO; very timely in my case and I carried on at Gaynes for another four years before making Hospital Principal Officer and being posted to HMP Strangeways, Manchester in August, 1976. Actually my move to Manchester was very timely as Borstals as such were being relegated to history and Gaynes was scheduled for demolition and replacement by HMP Littlehey shortly after I had left.