The imposing town house at No 46 West Street fell vacant after the departure of solicitor Cecil Walker Bell in 1940 and was subsequently bought by Kesteven County Council. It was used first as dormitories for wartime evacuees but after the last of them had left the town after the war's end in 1945, the building was used to accommodate orphans and children from problem families and broken homes. There were places for 20 children and it was run by a master and matron and five staff.

This new role was given official status in 1955 when it opened as the Bourne House Hostel for Maladjusted Children, funded jointly by the education departments of Kesteven, Holland and Lindsay county councils, now amalgamated as Lincolnshire County Council. Two years later, Mrs Pat Schmid, aged 27, a newly qualified nurse anxious to work with children was appointed matron. There were insufficient staff at first but eventually, after a visit by government inspectors who recognised the problem, her husband, Swiss-born Lou Schmid, aged 30, a sheet metal worker, who had been working there at weekends, was appointed full time master.

In 2005, Mrs Schmid remembered the early days at the hostel as difficult but promising. "I took the job on my own as I had pretty definite ideas on how a place such as Bourne House should be run", she said. "But we were ridiculously understaffed for the first two years and I would probably have given up but a visit from the inspectors solved the problem by allowing my husband to come into the job full time.

"It was not just a job, more a way of life. Sadly, bureaucracy took over, making us count our hours and forcing us to claim overtime and close down during the school holidays. At one time, we never closed even if it meant having children at our bungalow [in Baston] for a short time. A lot of money was spent on the hostel in the latter days, often unnecessarily so that it was no surprise when it was decided to close it down."

Mr and Mrs Schmid remained in charge until the hostel was closed down in 1985 and have since retired and are now living in Spain. She is 75 and he is 79, but they remain in touch with some of the children who were once in their care.

"My main test for the success of our work was how the girls treated their children when they grew up", she said. "Our aims were to show them a better way of life than they had experienced from their parents. This applied particularly to the long stay children, girls who stayed up to 10 years. The boys left at 11 years of age, ready or not, and sometimes went on to other places such as Stretton Hall School. Many of the children stayed two to four years or less, with their problems solved. It was all very rewarding work."

WRITTEN DECEMBER 2005

See also     

Bourne House     The Hull evacuees

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