Friends of St Francis
FOSF Questionnaire results/Hospital Units for Upgrade
The late John Walsh, Don Mc Gurk and Mike Morgan
Memories by Doris Bishop
Chris Gannon/Reg Cook Retire
Derrick Collins recalls/ Extract early training brochure
Where are they now? Fitzgerald Corbin/News from former staff
More news from former staff/St Francis staff meet up
1997 Reunion Photo Gallery
Blast from the past/Beechmont basics/Historical thought
Alison Tessier Photo Album/Ruby Wiltshire (Seboo) Photo Album
The late Joe Mertz
3 Monthly get-togethers
November get-together a great success!
Friends of St Francis Website a BIG Hit! (May 2004)
Mid Sussex Greats
Contact from Colin Holmes
Budget Pressures on Mental Health (Jan 2003)
Shock for Shock Cure Doctors -Sunday Times 15.9.74 ( Jan 2003)
Student Nurse Intake May 84 Group 59
Student Nurse Intake September 1988 - Group 68 (Feb 2003)
Mental Health Strategy Revealed (Feb 2003)
Student Nurse Intake Nov 92/ Group 72(April 2003)
Contacting 'Friends of St Francis' Section and Website
Facelift for 'dingy' ward (27.10.02)
Mental Health : Initiatives are helping (27.10.02)
Rail death suicide (18.10.02)
How much for Warninglid bathroom? (2002)
Worth Ward for sale (14.10.02)
St Francis Hospital Museum Update 14.10.02 and 18.7.03
Recent Bereavements (6.10.02)
Postcard of St Francis (29.9.02)
St Francis in 1925 (14.9.02)
The Alberta Brothers(21.7.02)
SFH's Contribution to the Ditchling Pond (7.7.02)
Mark Gibney Remembers (26.5.02)
More news from former staff (12.5.02)
Alan Virginie and Friends (5.5.02)
Staff Shortage - Patients miss therapy (11.4.02)
SFH Memo( ?1970's)
Historic Pub - with SFH connection - finally closes (Sept 2003)
Arson - Involving SFH Artefacts (2.5.03)
The death of Doris Bishop (2.5.03)
Cancellation of 2003 Reunions/ Next Annual Reunion 2004 (05/03)
The recent death of Cliff Forster (July 2003)
Football roundup and County League Div 2 table (Jan '05)
Where Are They Now? Mr Berzins & His Photo Album (sept 2003)
Prayer of St Francis
Volume 2 - Mr Berzins Photo Album (Dec 2003)
The late Bill Ford ( February 2004)
Nellie Carey's (Ferdinand) Photo Album (Feb '04)
2004 Reunion a Big success ! Photo Album No 1 ! (May 2004 )
Help! Help! Help!
Villa Ward to give way to new centre
A funny psychiatric bit from the Daily Express (Sep 04)
The Death of Vincent Ryan (Sep 04)
Looking Back - Larry Adler at St Francis Jan '75 (Sep 04)
Memories of the late James(Jim) Whelan (Jan '05)
Christmas Carols for the Psychiatrically Challenged (Jan '05
New Scheme for Relief Road Housing (Jan '05)
St Francis Hospital Contemporary to become a Tesco?(Jan'05)
Reg Cook's first meeting with the late Mike Boyne (June 2005
The late Malcolm Cleroux (June 05)
Backing for Museum (June 05)
Runners and Owners - Hockey Section's Racenight (June 05)
'Class of 69' Student Nurse Memories (June '05)
Go ahead for Mental Health Unit and 89 homes (Jan '07)
The Future of the Sports facilities (Jan '07)
Brian Pate and Iraq (Jan '07)
Joe Hughes with tales of the Ghosts of St Francis (Jan 07)
Peter Towner's Life and Times (May 2008)
Bill Golunski's Life and Times
The Late David Jenkins - March 2010
Joe Hughes remembers the hospital clocks - March 2010
Facebook Link with FOSF
Penthouse Pet Avril Lund meets Joe Hughes ( April 2010)
Reunion 2012
History of St Francis Hospital, Haywards Heath by Joe Hughes
Message Board
Guestbook
Event Calendar
Mail Form
The site is still under construction but please indicate how it could be improved?
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Friends of St Francis
 | St Francis Hospital
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
1859 - 1995
(Now redeveloped as Southdowns Park) |
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 | WELCOME TO THE FRIENDS OF ST FRANCIS WEBSITE
St Francis Psychiatric Hospital, Haywards Heath, West Sussex opened its doors to patients for the first time in 1859. Built to house 400 patients at a cost of £46, 531. 16s. 10d, it carried on its work uninterrupted for 136 years until November 1995, when it closed to make way for modern advances in the community based care of the mentally ill.
Three factors decided the fate of St Francis : it was a bracing location, in the centre of the county and accessible to the new railway.
Designed in the Lombardo-Venetian style by the architect H Kendall, it had to be self supporting and its buildings included a farm, a brewery, a laundry, a bakery, a chapel and burial ground and a well and settling pond. The water tower, built in 1908, is still in use today.
At the time of its opening in 1859 it had to compete for financing with Lewes Jail and, like the jail and railway, employed many Irish labourers who married local girls and settled in the area.
Known for its high standards of care, its spearheading of new and innovative methods of treatment in the care of the mentally ill over many decades and its international mix of staff of all disciplines, the friendships and comaraderie continue to flourish through regular staff reunions and contact.
Joe Hughes. FOSF Website Editor
THE FRIENDS OF ST FRANCIS SECTION OF THE SOCIAL AND SPORTS CLUB AND THE WEBSITE aim to assist in keeping alive those longstanding relationships built up over many years.
Joe Hughes
FOSF Editor joe.hughes2@sky.com also on joehughes.org.uk
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................................................................
 Joe Hughes, former nurse and COHSE/Unison branch secretary at the hospital, produces and edits the FOSF website. He would appreciate your stories, biographies or any related item for use on the site which he tries to keep for all of the material other than that which appears on, and is more suited to, facebook and Twitter.
Contact Joe on joe.hughes2@sky.com or on joehughes.org.uk
A DVD history of St Francis Hospital ' Where there is despair - let me sow hope' - a Photographic History of St Francis Hospital
(1859 - 1995) by Joe Hughes is available from www.amazon.co.uk at a cost of £10.
The DVD tells the story of St Francis Psychiatric Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex and is brought to life using on-screen rolling text which is illustrated with hundreds of photographs many of them taken and edited by Joe himself.
'Asylum Symphony' by Joe's daughter Ciara, complements the text and photographs beautifully.
We follow the journey from Kendall's design before the opening of the building in 1859 through the many varied approaches to the care of the mentally ill over the decades until closure in 1995 when Care in the Community legislation brought large institutional treatment to an end once and for all.
There is controversy here also as Joe deals with the diminishing powers of successive superintendents, the rise of the skilled psychiatric nurse and the important part played by the trade unions.
Many new photographs and drawings bring the text to life against an international time line of major developments in psychiatric care as Joe tells the warts-and-all story of the hospital, the community and the wider world.
Also included with the DVD is a chronology of events covering the hospital's history and with reference to international psychiatric milestones.
There is a short, illustrated history of St Francis Hospital also by Joe on this site.
Best wishes to all the Friends of St Francis.
Our next reunion is due in September 2015.
Send your land address to Joe on joe.hughes2@sky.com for inclusion on the Section database to be sure of an invite.
See you there!
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