‘Help give them proper memorial’ (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

‘Help give them proper memorial’

2:07pm Sunday 28th October 2007 in

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A former patient of a psychiatric hospital is campaigning to keep the memory of almost 3,000 fellow patients alive.

After suffering a nervous breakdown at the age of 27, Derek Hutchinson was admitted to High Royds Hospital, Menston - then the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum - where he underwent brain surgery.

It was decided Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) to curb the boxer's "aggressive tendencies" would be ideal for the father-of-three, who was awake for the eight-and-a-half hour ordeal.

Holes three-quarters of an inch deep were drilled into his head and electrodes inserted and he underwent ten sessions of ECT. He has suffered post traumatic stress disorder ever since.

"I couldn't even begin to explain what it was like", he said. "I live this operation every day of my life, I relive it every night."

Mr Hutchinson was just one of thousands of patients who passed through the doors of the hospital in the 115 years it was open from 1888 to 2003.

High Royds is being redeveloped, but a chapel and cemetery where more than 2,800 patients were laid to rest stands forgotten and neglected.

Now, Mr Hutchinson, along with a small band of mental health users and carers have formed the High Royds Memorial Garden Fund, to help the patients rest in peace.

The chapel at the site, off Buckle Lane, Menston, is in urgent need of repair and just a few headstones are dotted around the cemetery. The group believes more lie in the undergrowth and would like them restored.

Their vision is for the land to have flower beds, benches and a sculpture.

Mr Hutchinson, founder of Survivors' Campaign Against Lobotomy and Psychosurgery (Scalps), said: "To put 2,800 people on that site, they would have to be buried four deep. They deserve a bit of respect.

"I am not a Christian, but these people deserve to rest in peace especially after what a lot of them went through. We will do this, whatever happens."

Group secretary John Steel, 77, said: "We are committed to restoring the site. People will have relatives at the site and may want to sit and quietly contemplate and it will be a place anyone can come and visit and remember their loved ones."

The group has already collected £1,400 from this year's Mind Champion of the Year awards, which was won by celebrity Stephen Fry, who suffers with bipolar disorder.

Mr Hutchinson met Mr Fry and would like to gain his support for the project but the group cannot move forward until the ownership is settled.

The developer, Gladedale Group, owns the plot and is in talks over its future. Its project surveyor, Andrew Coucom, said: "We can't do anything with it, it is just a liability for us so we will gift or sell the land for a nominal fee of £1 or something like that.

"I think the fact nearly 3,000 patients are buried there warrants a little bit more than a little plaque on the gate. I think what the group is doing is fantastic."

For more information, call Leeds Involvement Project on (0113) 237 4509.

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