by Trevor Dale
We are marking time now, waiting for the decision by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, due in December. We are continuing to refine how that heritage and history will be available to the public, near and far.
This month let’s talk about mental health. How this issue has been dealt with historically is worthy of a brief look. Our old cottage will house a research room with digital access to the Surrey History Centre in Woking which houses indexes to Surrey mental hospital records. We plan to have a link with them, here in Cranleigh to enable research for anyone interested, perhaps in their family history.
Looking to the future services we plan to offer, let’s start by comparing the mental health services in Victorian days and before, when the hospital first came into being, with what the attitudes are now.
Lunatic asylums were often the route as far back as the 17th century, and it is sobering to consider that melancholy, willfulness and “possession by evil spirits” could be reasons for committal to the asylum. Husbands who could afford to pay a sympathetic doctor could have their wives imprisoned at the madhouse with no just cause other than they would not obey their spouse. Many families disposed of ‘difficult’ family members in such a way. The Lunacy Act 1845 was an important landmark in the treatment of the mentally ill, as it explicitly changed the status of mentally ill people to patients who required treatment.
Mental health treatment had not been developed and so conditions which we recognise and treat today were considered signs of madness. Those displaying symptoms were locked away from society and very often left to die in squalid and inhumane conditions. Whilst inside, an inmate had no legal redress and no means to fight for their release as they were refused contact with any visitors. Over time society would use these institutions as places to lock away those who they felt weren’t “like them”, including those with what we would now consider to be low level learning difficulties.
Today, it has become apparent is that there is a great identified requirement for a local venue suitable for mental health services. This has always been the cornerstone of our business plan, but a recent visit by one of our senior GPs confirmed that currently few mental health services are available in easy reach, with most requiring service users to travel to Guildford and Godalming or further afield.
You may find this illustration food for thought? How times have changed!
Cranleigh old Cottage Hospital when open will be available to providers of mental health and other non-clinical therapies.
In 2023 Cranleigh and District Lions Club contributed £15,000 to the provision of a health and wellbeing centre for students at Glebelands school. That is proving enormously successful.
Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership is our local NHS provider. Their strategy is centred on delivering high quality care across all services: mental health, learning disability, neurodevelopmental and drug and alcohol. They work together with organisations like Catalyst Support who are already active in Cranleigh.
Alongside the excellent League of Friends of the Cranleigh Village Hospital, we hope to develop a coherent approach to health and wellbeing for all the local community.
FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT
There are many opportunities for enthusiastic volunteers to join the project. This promises to be a rewarding challenge for those with an interest in history and heritage, or in helping people. Please contact us by phone, 01483 272987, letter or email to;
If you are a charity, business or therapist please contact us to register your interest. We need long-term partners, and the Heritage Fund panel needs us to show them how we are engaging with our community.
To register an expression of interest in future use of the facilities please write to us with the following information:
1. Brief description of what you offer and the benefits to clients and customers.
2. Say if and where you currently offer this service and why people would use the cottage to meet you.
3. Brief declaration of support for the project in general.
4. Return name and address and any website or social media links.
Thank you so much! Trustees Trevor Dale – Chair; Howard Barratt; Jane Briggs; Chris Bulley; Sue Dale; Nigel West. Advisors Bob Callard – architect; Joanna James – business advisor, Michael Miller and Joy Horn, history advisors.
Visit our website www.cranleighheritagetrust.org.uk
