Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/Fred-had-to-hide-to.3204824.jp
A deaf-mute man whose parents hid him so the authorities couldn't send him away is celebrating his 90th birthday.
When Fred was young, education bosses decided the best place for him was a boarding school 200 miles from home.
But his parents, James and Elizabeth, were adamant no one was going to send their little boy away, and regularly hid him in the backyard when the police came round to search for him.
At the weekend, Fred celebrated his 90th birthday with a party for family and friends.
A huge Sunderland AFC fan, Fred was given a team shirt bearing his name and age by staff at Springfield Lodge Nursing Home, in West Rainton.
Deborah Atkinson, manager at the home said: "It is quite an achievement what he has done in his life. He does really well, even now, and manages to communicate in his own way.
"I have known him so long that I just instinctively know what he is trying to say.
"Fred's nephew organised a party in The Greyhound pub near us and Fred has been so excited about his birthday. Every day he has been counting the days down."
Fred was born deaf and mute in 1917, an era when deaf children were routinely sent away to special boarding schools, often for months on end, at the age of just five or six.
However, his parents were adamant they wanted him to remain at home in Milburn Street, Millfield, Sunderland, and taught him to lip read and communicate with words and gestures.
The couple even fought two moves through the courts to send the youngster away to a boarding school for the deaf.
Fred said: "My mother and father loved me and I was happy with them. We were all happy together. I came from a very loving home with six older sisters and I didn't want to go away."
Such was Elizabeth's determination to ensure Fred received a good education, however, that she was instrumental in setting up Sunderland's first school for the deaf, in Tatham Street, where Fred started at the age of eight.
After leaving school at 17, Fred went to work at the Blind Institute in Sunderland and stayed there until his retirement aged 62.
His leisure time was spent playing darts, dominoes and cards at Park Lane Club and he was also a season ticket holder at Roker Park, travelling to the 1973 FA Cup Final.
Fred said: "I've always had a happy life. I don't regret anything.
"If I could ask for anything in the world, it wouldn't be to be able to hear, it would be to have my parents and sisters back again."
A deaf-mute man whose parents hid him so the authorities couldn't send him away is celebrating his 90th birthday.
When Fred was young, education bosses decided the best place for him was a boarding school 200 miles from home.
But his parents, James and Elizabeth, were adamant no one was going to send their little boy away, and regularly hid him in the backyard when the police came round to search for him.
At the weekend, Fred celebrated his 90th birthday with a party for family and friends.
A huge Sunderland AFC fan, Fred was given a team shirt bearing his name and age by staff at Springfield Lodge Nursing Home, in West Rainton.
Deborah Atkinson, manager at the home said: "It is quite an achievement what he has done in his life. He does really well, even now, and manages to communicate in his own way.
"I have known him so long that I just instinctively know what he is trying to say.
"Fred's nephew organised a party in The Greyhound pub near us and Fred has been so excited about his birthday. Every day he has been counting the days down."
Fred was born deaf and mute in 1917, an era when deaf children were routinely sent away to special boarding schools, often for months on end, at the age of just five or six.
However, his parents were adamant they wanted him to remain at home in Milburn Street, Millfield, Sunderland, and taught him to lip read and communicate with words and gestures.
The couple even fought two moves through the courts to send the youngster away to a boarding school for the deaf.
Fred said: "My mother and father loved me and I was happy with them. We were all happy together. I came from a very loving home with six older sisters and I didn't want to go away."
Such was Elizabeth's determination to ensure Fred received a good education, however, that she was instrumental in setting up Sunderland's first school for the deaf, in Tatham Street, where Fred started at the age of eight.
After leaving school at 17, Fred went to work at the Blind Institute in Sunderland and stayed there until his retirement aged 62.
His leisure time was spent playing darts, dominoes and cards at Park Lane Club and he was also a season ticket holder at Roker Park, travelling to the 1973 FA Cup Final.
Fred said: "I've always had a happy life. I don't regret anything.
"If I could ask for anything in the world, it wouldn't be to be able to hear, it would be to have my parents and sisters back again."
