Lorna was born in 1934. She attended the Foundling Hospital School in Berkhamsted, and on leaving, returned to her foster family in Addlestone. After spending some time in training, Lorna worked at a telephone exchange, a hotel and finally as a telephonist for the BBC. While she was working for the BBC, she met her husband Colin, with whom she had three sons. She returned to live in Berkhamsted with two dogs, and was a member of a local dance club until her death.
Early Life
‘She did say to me I was very sick, it was difficult to cope, but she said every time she looked in the pram I smiled and she thought, “Oooh, must keep her,” you know, and so they did, but knowing that, you know, it must have been hard, mustn’t it, knowing that they were going to have to say goodbye and had no control when we were five or six.’
Into the World
‘Well, I went to work at St Thomas’ Hospital– they had a branch in the country as well as the main London Hospital. We were on a sort of domestic science course, you know, because gone were the days then– we were fortunate, that we weren’t going into traditional service and the boys– some of them were still going into the Army Band but we did have one or two choices, not that many because after all we didn’t have the education, I mean you know you weren’t going on for further education. You could sit exams but you weren’t going anywhere. But things did seem to improve, I mean people were, especially girls, were doing short-handed typing, and things like this, so those that did that had the chance of a better job and going into an office but we went to this Hospital and they were… long term patients who were back from the war. So anyway, three months in the wards, three months in the dining room, three months in the kitchen and three months sort of general duties sort of all around, so we learnt skills that– I mean domestically… would help you… but it was such a culture shock, I mean you can imagine, you know, coming from the environment of school and total protection and then you’re in this hospital looking at these very badly burnt patients.’
Reflections
‘I hated, really truly hated the word Foundling with a vengeance. I mean now we joke about it and it doesn’t matter and of course if– if you’re with a gang of old girls and boys you say– and if somebody’s lagging behind you say “Come on you old Foundling, get a move on,” you know, but I– I was just desperate about it. It was such a stigma and of course… desperate about names as well, that was another thing you see. Having a name that isn’t yours was obsessive.’
School Life
‘Life was spartan and not happy, not happy at all. I mean we were terrible really, I mean this brand new beautiful building, we used to refer to it as a prison. Well we didn’t know what a prison was but suddenly you know, we were in this institution and people were not kind you see, and the staff were just not kind. I mean, nobody put their arms around you and gave you a hug. Nobody was happy, there was nothing to be happy about. You know, I mean you’d left your foster parents, that you were– you loved, you felt secure. Total shock to the system and although they might have warned you what was going to happen, you couldn’t possibly have imagined it as it was, how could you when you were only five or six? And this building was absolutely huge to a child, I mean it still is a very large building but monstrously large to a child.’
Search for Birth Families
‘But I decided, you know, I had my family, I had a husband, I had a good marriage, I had lots of friends and maybe it was time to put it to bed, and it took me really until I was about 50 to come to terms with it because it never leaves you. I mean every birthday you think “She’s got to be thinking about me” and when you have your children, “She ought to know she’s a grandma” so of course for me and for a huge amount of Foundling children, our first child is our first blood relative we’ve met and so that is very special but I mean I would have given anything to have met her, but I think, you know, perhaps it wasn’t meant to be. But I would lo– I would love to have met her. The saddest thing I think is she never knew how I felt and I always cared and the saddest thing for me is that she didn’t know that. If nothing else, if we’d never met, for her to know that I cared about her and, you know, just– just that would have been enough and to have a few more photographs. I didn’t want anything else.‘
