"Oldie" magazine- Caroline Boyce ( nee Havard)

This is a copy of Caroline's article in this month's "Oldie" magazine:

Caroline Boyce- Oldie magazine

(From left to right) Mary , Ann ( in bed) and Caroline on the balcony of Craig-y-nos Castle.

Caroline Boyce ( nee Havard) has her story in this month's
"Oldie" magazine" (Go to the link in the side panel on "Whats in.." the magazine this month.)

She tells me it gave her quite a turn when she picked up the magazine and read it in print.

Well it came as something of a shock to me too when I bought a copy today from WH Smith and opened it to find a photo of Mary, Caroline and myself in Craig-y-nos.

It is as if our history has been finally validated now its out in the common domain.

Caroline has written an excellent account which I shall put up on the blog ( once I have figured out how to put it into the correct file format for the web)


"The Children of Craig-y-nos" by Ann Shaw and Carole Reeves ( price £9.99) published by The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, UCL.

Book sales- "Children of Craig-y-nos"

Many folk are asking me how the sales of the book are going.

Well, over 800 copies of "The Children of Craig-y-nos" have been printed.

But there's a problem - neither Borders in Swansea ( yes I know they have now gone defunct but they were still in business when they ordered the books) nor the Welsh Book Council ( naughty! naughty!) have paid a penny.

They owe the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, UCL several hundred pounds.

Dr Carole Reeves tells me she has written to them repeatedly and got no response.

She says Borders was particularly devious.
Clair Robinson, their Sales & Marketing Supervisor of Borders Books, Swansea rang Dr Reeves to say t they'd had 'hundreds of requests' for the book and could she send a batch urgently.

She claimed it would take too long to go through the normal wholesaler channels and she didn't want to disappoint her customers in Swansea.

So books were sent off to Swansea and that is the last that Carole heard from them.

Says Carole:" Despite follow-up e.mails, invoices and telephone calls from our Finance Officer, this amount is still outstanding. Despicable really.

Same goes for the Welsh Book Council. They have never even bothered to acknowledge her correspondence even after she sent them one free book and 20 as requested.

Same goes for Welsh Books Council. Daffyd Jones is the contact there.
" I was promised a contract to supply the Welsh Books Council, which I have never received despite follow-up letters and a phone call from you. They have had one free viewing copy and 20 books, " says Carole.

The book is on their website but I have received no reimbursement for sales. I have asked them to return all unsold books plus money from sales / or send a contact. Nothing. Not even an acknowledgement of my correspondence," says Carole.

I have rung the Welsh Book Council myself on several occasions to try and hurry things along and I have been assured by Daffyd Jones that the matter was in hand.



What I would like to know is :who funds the Welsh Book Council? isn't it time somebody took a close look at this organisation?

I am passing this on to the Western Mail and Evening Post in the hope that they might be able to "name and shame" them into paying up.

If you want to buy a copy of the "The Children of Craig-y-nos" by Ann Shaw and Carole Reeves (price £9.99) you can do so through Waterstones or online: Amazon.co.uk

Book launch photos- late photos from last May

Cynthia Mullan of the Sleeping Giant Foundation, introducing the launch of the book" The Children of Craig-y-nos".
This locally based oral history charity provided invaluable support and help throughout the project.




Clive Rowlands, former Welsh rugby star and ex child patient at Craig-y-nos, officially opening "The Children of Craig-y-nos" book launch in the newly refurbished Glass Conservatory of Craig-y-nos Castle.





Most of the people attending the book launch were ex child patients.



Co-authors of the book Ann Shaw ( left) and Dr Carole Reeves, Outreach Historian with The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, UCL, signing copies.


Ann Shaw ( nee Rumsey) left and Caroline Boyce (nee Havard) in Scotland.

Photos supplied by Caroline Boyce.

Caroline was herself a patient in 1949-50 and this was her first return visit to Craig-y-nos. She became a teacher and on retirement moved to Scotland with her husband, Paul, in order to be near their family.
She lives about 15 miles from Ann Shaw though they only discovered they were neighbours as a result of this project.

Copies of "The Children of Craig-y-nos" by Ann Shaw and Carole Reeves,published by The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, UCL, price £9.99 are available from all good bookshops or online from Amazon.co.uk.