Segal (1875-1944) was a Romanian-born, Berlin-based Jewish artist who left Germany in 1933, and after a brief period in Spain came to England where he founded his School in 1937. Imogen - who has won an AHRC PhD Fellowship to continue her work - is particularly interested in the therapeutic elements of the School, which was attended by members of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and also used to help traumatised soldiers returning home from the War after 1941.
Her visit to the PETT Archive this week was to investigate further Segal's association with Hawkspur Camp for Men (1936-1940), the first of two therapeutic camps established by the Q-Camps Committee. The camps, built by the men themselves, were an outgrowth of an organisation called Grith Fyrd, and devised carefully planned environments, using shared responsibility in the treatment of disturbed and delinquent young men; some of the men from Hawkspur Camp went on to attend the Painting School.
The Q-Camps archives came to the Archive and Study Centre in 1989 as part of the David Wills Collection - having originally been sent to David Wills at Barns House in Scotland from London during World War II for their safe-keeping (the train they were on was bombed on the way; the archives were re-packaged by the salvage crews and sent on to Scotland).
Wiki-fact: Arthur Segal's son Walter was an architect, who created the Segal method of self-built housing. Coincidence? For more, click here.]]>
To be held 6th July 2012, at the Mulberry Bush School, Standlake, Oxford
The Mulberry Bush School and the family of John Armstrong would like to invite people to join together for a celebration of John's life and work on Friday, 6 July 2012 at the School in Standlake, Oxfordshire.This is an opportunity for people connected with John and the Mulberry Bush across the years to come together and honour him and all that he did to make the Bush a place that affected so many children and adults, quite often changing the course of their lives.
Such a Gathering will be a fitting and much deserved tribute to John himself. Equally, for all of us who come together on this day and for the Bush itself it will serve as a vital reminder not only of the nature of the commitment required to sustain the therapeutic task but also of the character and substance of the kind of person who can see it through over many years and the many hours and weeks of daily living and learning.
A more detailed programme for this occasion will be available in due course. For now we can confirm that the event will begin at 3 PM and its formal end will be at 7PM. Many people when remembering John will likely associate him with events like Open Days and Friends of the Bush evenings held on the front field in the lovely summer brightness and warmth. Therefore it will be no surprise to learn that the Gathering itself will begin at 3 with an informal mingling of all participants around food and drink. This will be followed by a session of slightly more formal spoken recollections and tributes from those who knew and worked with him, and as part of this there will be a chance for anyone else to share their thoughts and memories of John.
Further informal conversations can recommence after this, with further opportunity to look at some of the displays about John and the Bush of that era. If anyone has an item – photo, object or..? - that you wish to send on to be included or to bring on the day, please do so. Alongside recording the event, we shall also have a facility to record at least some people's brief memories of John to add to the Mulberry Bush Archive held at the Planned Environment Therapy Trust.If you wish to come along, please write directly to the Mulberry Bush confirming your intention, or email Richard Rollinson, former Director of the Mulberry Bush. We also request that if someone knows another person who might wish to attend they alert him/her to this information, or send us contact details so we can advise them.]]>
Researchers Martin Levy and Jakob Jakobsen met at PETT this week to discuss their mutual research interests whilst looking through the material of Joseph Berke and in particular the archives of the Institute of Phenomenological Studies. Martin, author of a number of books and articles about Eighteenth-Century England, including Love and Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, is currently researching and writing a book on the 1967 Dialectics of Liberation Congress, which is described on his website as 'a unique gathering in July of 1967 in London England [whose] purpose was to demystify human violence in all its forms, the social systems from which it emanates, and to explore new forms of action'. Read more on his website www.dialecticsofliberation.com.
Jakob, of the Copenhagen Free University (www.copenhagenfreeuniversity.dk), is a visual artist interested in the free universities movement, alternatives in higher education, and the Anti-University of London 1968. He explains: 'Research on this topic has so far been relatively limited, and the activities and achievements of the Anti-University still lie very much in the dark. I first read about this anti-institution in Joseph Berke's 1969 book Counter Culture, a survey of the Counter Culture movement across Europe and the US. Joseph Berke was a psychiatrist and part of the so-called anti-psychiatry movement, an experimental milieu that emerged in the UK in the early 1960s and sought to develop a critique of the ideological nature of the relationship between mental illness and normality.' His current research is being hosted by MayDay Rooms, London, and more information about this project and two short films about the Anti-University of London, are available on their website maydayrooms.org.uk.
A close colleague of R.D. Laing, whose experiences as Mary Barnes' therapist at Kingsley Hall have been captured in Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey Through Madness and David Edgar's stage and radio play 'Mary Barnes', Joseph Berke later went on to found and Direct the Arbours Crisis Centre and for many years was a Trustee of the Planned Environment Therapy Trust.
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Finding a specialist audio-visual lab which can handle vintage video formats is considerably easier today than it was in the early 1990s, in pre-Internet days. Even with the Internet, searches for labs which can properly and professionally handle and transfer 1/2" EIAJ Type I and II reel to reel video (at the top in the picture), and U-matic cartridges (bottom), show that they are pretty rare. In 1995 we knew of two - one in Washington State, in America, and one in Japan.
Fortunately, when we brought these and a group of other films and videos back from Maxwell Jones's home in Nova Scotia following his death in 1990, the Archive had a special relationship with the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre in Cody, Wyoming; and it was through the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre that we were able to locate the lab in Washington State and have the videos transferred to VHS. Today, of course, they would go straight to digital; and if anyone has the spare cash and would like to sponsor the work, it would be fantastic to bring the 1973 "Meeting with Superintendant - Unit Chiefs - Director of Education and Max [Jones]"; the "South West Coastal Unit Team 1 Staff and Patient meeting. Staff and patient meeting" and
the "Program Policy Meeting. Superintendant's Conference Room" (among the other videos) into the digital age.
The films and videos had been carried by Maxwell Jones in his various peregrinations to Britain, the United States, and finally Canada, and formed part of his personal archive, which he agreed to place with PETT following a visit from the archivist in August 1990. The promise of Max's archives, the David Wills Collection, and Jonathan Croall's research papers for his biography of Summerhill's A.S. Neill were the foundation stones on which the Archive and Study Centre has been built, and set out the range of its remit: Therapeutic communities for children and young people; therapeutic communities for adults; and what Albert Lamb called "therapeutic communities for normal children" - progressive, alternative, democratic schools and communities. Perhaps Max's later preference for "Open systems approaches" is the umbrella which covers them all.
The brilliantly gifted psychiatrist Maxwell Jones (1907-1990) is often referred to as "the father of therapeutic community" as much for his immense influence and tireless advocacy for therapeutic community following the Second World War - both in Britain and internationally - as for his pioneering work at the world-famous Henderson Hospital in London, and in psychiatric and educational settings at home and abroad. Such was his influence and fame that he is named in exceptional company in Milos Foreman's film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest":
HARDING: It's as simple as that. You've been on our ward six hours and have already simplified the work of Freud, Jung and Maxwell Jones in one grand analogy: it's a pecking party.
MCMURPHY: I'm not talking about Fred Yoong or Maxwell Jones, buddy, what I'm talkin' about is that crummy meeting and what that nurse did to you!
(From "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey)
Researcher Dr. Rebecca Wynter from the University of Birmingham (Departments of History and History of Medicine) spent a couple of days at the Archive and Study Centre this week looking through the records of David Wills. With areas of research that include the material culture of prisons and asylums (1793-1866), and workhouses (1890-1920), Rebecca's interest in epilepsy and mental health led her to Monyhull epileptic and feeble-minded colony in Birmingham, and then to Lingfield Epileptic Colony.
Staying over-night in the on-site Barns House accommodation so as to make the best use of her time, Rebecca has been looking through references to Lingfield in the personal papers of David Wills. David Wills was a founder of the Planned Environment Therapy Trust, and having been a 'brother' (today we might say 'residential social worker') at the Wallingford Farm Training Colony from 1923 to 1927, he later paid regular visits over a number of years to his friend and mentor Stuart Payne, a fellow 'brother' at Wallingford who had moved to work at the Lingfield Epileptic Colony. It was at Lingfield that David Wills first met Arthur Barron, a non-epileptic child looked after by Stuart Payne. 35 years later Arthur Barron helped David Wills and Marjorie Franklin to establish the Planned Environment Therapy Trust.
We don’t yet know why Arthur Barron had been placed at Lingfield Epileptic Colony - perhaps Rebecca's research can help us answer that question! He certainly didn't have epilepsy. But it meant that he could watch and listen from 1931 to 1935 as the two grownups, David Wills and Stuart Payne, discussed the possibility of a new kind of Children’s Community - one in which 'punishment' would not have a place, and in which the relationship between staff and children in the day-to-day life of the community would be one of 'shared responsibility'. And when the first concrete step in the realisation of this dream came into being with the opening of Hawkspur Camp in 1936, with David Wills as Camp Chief, it meant that the young Arthur Barron was ready to join him as a student helper, becoming a full-time member of the staff team, and kick-starting his lifetime's work in therapeutic child care. This series of accidents brought Marjorie Franklin, David Wills and Arthur Barron together for the first time; so in a very real sense, the origins of PETT can be traced back to Lingfield Epileptic Colony.
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A brief note to share the very sad news that Old Wenningtonian and 'Archive Weekend' co-inventor Tom James passed away on Monday, April 2nd.
The funeral will be held on Thursday 12th April at 12.45 pm.at Oxford Crematorium (Bayswater Road, Headington, Oxford OX3 9RZ).
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The eagerly anticipated performance of Mal-er-juhs-ted premiered at Trinity Catholic School on Wednesday and a group from PETT including project staff and participants were there to enjoy it.
Part of the 'Therapeutic Living with Other People's Children' project, it's billed as, 'an interactive performance piece based on the lives and stories of children growing up in therapeutic living environments in the 1930s-80s, often following a traumatic experience in their lives'. The inspiration for the work came from a series of visits to the PETT Archive and Study Centre, culminating in a thoroughly intense 'Performance Weekend' with former children and staff of these communities. The performance itself is, 'based on research from the PETT archives, discussions and interviews with ex-students' recorded by the students themselves.
No-one knew quite what to expect, despite the fact that many had already had a sneak preview at our Telling the Story Conference at the University of Birmingham last September. Then again, perhaps not even the students knew:
'As you walk into our performance space, you can choose how you wish to view the show, you may sit on the seats, sit on the floor, stand in the performance space or stand by the door...it's entirely up to you...we will not be making you do anything in this performance, everything will be...your choice'.
Greeted with cups of tea and jam sandwiches on arrival, it was obvious that this wouldn't be an 'ordinary' performance. Soon a school bell rang and we were ushered into the main hall. A doll sits under a spotlight, a lone voice sings 'oranges 
and lemons', the children suddenley run around playing games, 'ring a ring o'roses'. Sudden darkness. Next a fantastic multimedia projection, and dramatic scenes showing, 'the story of four children and how their home situation resulted in their journey to therapeutic living environments'. As the programme notes, all the stories have been, 'developed from our research at the archives and interviews with former pupils'.
Another bell and without instruction, we wander through to the corridor. There's an art class, a music room, and if you follow the leafy track, a 'den' to explore. We're painting, eating sweets, and making 'beautiful' music. Another bell and back into the main hall. Filmed monolgues, 'that tell the story of the more vulnerable children within these environments' are projected behind a group engaged in sand play therapy.
A courtroom scene, (based on a model used in some communities) explores the notion of self-government, and encourages most audience participation. We find ourselves voting on smoking, and resolving a conflict that arose in the art room earlier. A dramatic sketch of a contemporary disrupted classroom scene prompts a debate, as the cast ask the audience, 'to look at how a situation like this would be dealt with in schools today compared to therapeutic living environments'.
'Acting over...we then move on to discuss in the form of a debate the effect these schools could have in today's 
society', and we did - and what a thought provoking disucssion with participation and comment from members of the audience. To finish, a, 'look at what former residents have done since leaving...recounting through monolgues, stories from participants of this extraordinary project'. A beautifully constructed slideshow of images attests to this, and to what a fantastic job they've done. And by they, that's everyone involved.
One student Flora Garner noted, 'This project is unlike any I have ever done before. It has been a truly inspirational experience and I feel honoured to have met such amazing people during the project. My experience will certainly help me in the future as I intend to go into the teaching profession and feel even more inspired to do so now'. Another, Mattthew Pettle, has written a book about the experience available here on Lulu. Summing up, Assistant Principal Stephen Steinhaus observed that the performance has opened up a new dialogue, lessons to be learned, that 'these things should have a role in the way we deal with children and how can we make sure that they do?'
In this sense, this wasn't the type of performance that could ever be repeated in exactly the same way again: a one-off, unique to those involved. A performance changed and adapted, a response to the community of people sharing the experince. And how apt.
For more images of the performance, take a look at our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ThePlannedEnvironmentTherapyTrust
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In 1973 residential therapeutic child care pioneer David Wills overcame his philosophical objections to the British honours system to accept an O.B.E. in the New Years Honours List of 1974, interpreting it as a recognition for everyone working therapeutically with children. Robert Laslett wrote to David Wills: "I am glad you decided after all to accept yr honour", and went on to explain that it was Portia Holman who was the "prime mover" behind the nomination: "I just gave her a little help. And as Johnny Cross said, we all feel a bit bucked about it because we learned from you and believe in what you taught us, so yr recognition encourages us all."
Laslett's letter is just one in an office file which David Wills put together for correspondence about his OBE. In its turn the file is just one of several hundred in the David Wills Collection, which came to the Trust in 1988, and sparked the creation of the Archive and Study Centre in 1989. Followed by Jonathan Croall's research papers for his biography of A.S. Neill - Neill of Summerhill: The Permanent Rebel -, and by a first tranche of Maxwell Jones's archives, in earnest of more to come, these three initial collections neatly laid out the broad outlines of the Archive and Study Centre's remit: therapeutic community work with children and young people; progressive/alternative/democratic education; and therapeutic community work with adults.
Along with the correspondence file, the David Wills Collection includes the OBE proclamation scroll, signed by the Queen, as well as the OBE medal itself.
Among the letters is one from a former resident of Reynolds House, the aftercare hostel from which David Wills had retired from active residential work several years before, who wrote "I don't know whether I should congratulate you or the 'establishment' for making the award to so richly deserving a recipient."
Lord Aberdare, Simon Rodway, Fred Lennhoff, Richard Balbernie, and George Pettingale were among others sending cards and letters. Many hold rich incidental insights, such as Barbara Rapaport's comment, in mentioning that she was about to visit South Africa, that "My grandfather, in fact, went out [to South Africa] as Minister to Port Elizabeth Synagogue about 100 yrs ago."
Barbara Kahan, awarded the OBE herself in 1990, wrote in her congratulation "If only dear old A.S. Neill could have had an honour before he died, I would have felt two of the important source people who influenced me a lot had been justly treated." A very interesting comment from a very interesting lady, marking a unique moment in therapeutic community history.
David Wills (1903-1981) inspired several generations of post-War child care workers and teachers through personal example, writing and speaking (leaving aside letters to the editor and book reviews, his archives contain the texts of 59 unpublished lectures and the typescripts of 130 articles, published and unpublished). In 2004 David Kennard described:
“...the hugely influential Marjorie Franklin and David Wills, whose 1930s Hawkspur Camp laid the foundation for Planned Environment Therapy, described by Kasinski as “'probably the first unified model for the therapeutic community work with young people'”
(David Kennard (2004), “The therapeutic community as an adaptable treatment modality across different settings”, Psychiatric Quarterly 75:3)
As well as his first book, The Hawkspur Experiment, published in 1940, David Wills wrote a number of still-influential books about his and others' experiences in residential therapeutic child care: The Barns Experiment, published in 1945, told the story of Barns House hostel and school for unbilletable boys run by the Edinburgh Society of Friends (Quakers) in Scotland, of which David Wills was Warden from 1940 to 1945; Throw Away Thy Rod, published in 1960, discussed his experience as founding head from 1949 to 1961 of Bodenham Manor School for maladjusted children in Herefordshire; Spare the Child, published by Penguin in 1971, told the story of the transformation, under the leadership of Richard Balbernie, of the Cotswold Approved School into a therapeutic community called the Cotswold Community.
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