Memories get tired and confused. These bits and pieces are all that’s left. Some were sung and some were chanted. The coaches taking us to Victoria for the first part of our journey home were popular venues. Whether they originated at Chailey or were imported from other institutions is often unclear. Eileen remembers Mummy, daddy take me home From this convalescent home Whilst I remember Mummy, daddy take me home From this paralysed children's home The first doesn’t seem to refer to Chailey whereas the second does, although it doesn’t scan as well. I would guess the first was the original and second our adaptation. Eileen is sure that she learnt it whilst in the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore. One brilliant song definitely written at the Heritage, by whom I know not, even though I was there at the time, was – The Heritage Calypso St Georges School stands on a hill Easily distinguished by a mill The mill stands up as white as snow And this is the Heritage Calypso (Chorus) The Chailey Heritage Calypso Easy to sing and easy to know The Chailey Heritage Calypso We hope you like it ever so We all are cripples as you see One big happy family Get up early and we’re never late For supper at six and breakfast at eight We have boy scouts and wolf cubs too The noise they make sounds like a zoo They camp all night in Chailey Wood The cooking they do is pretty good We have a film show each Sunday night Sitting on benches squashed up tight Some films are good and some are bad Some are happy and some are sad The coppers come up every day To stop us smoking so they say They take our fags and send us to bed And so we smoke cigars instead Now every day we go to school Sit in detention and write out rules We work very hard but we don’t learn much ‘ Cos we think Shakespeare’s double Dutch If you know of other songs and rhymes or have more information on these, please contact me. Ian Sowerby. From Annie Goodhall We’ll make a bonfire of this Heritage And we’ll watch it fade away We’ll be jolly glad to be rid of it And we’ll shout hip hip hooray *** This time next year Where will I be Out of this vale Of misery. No more dirty Bread and butter No more water from The gutter. No more spiders In my bath Trying their hardest To make me laugh. If the matron Interferes Knock her down And box her ears. From Ian Sowerby Mummy, daddy take me home From this paralysed children's home I've been here a year or too Now I want to be with you Goodbye all the doctors Goodbye all the nurses Goodbye all the (?) And jolly good luck to you *** Here comes Doctor Quibell Swinging from the firebell The rope breaks And down he falls (you’ll have to guess the rest) From Eileen Bailey I had a bit of mouldy cheese I put it behind the door When I woke up next morning It was dancing round the floor Singing Mummy Daddy take me home From this convalescence home I’ve been here a year or two Now I am coming home with you. Here comes doctor with a nurse Sliding down the banisters Here comes nurse with a red-hot poultice Slaps it on and takes no notice. Oh, said the patient that's too hot Oh, said the nurse I'm sure it's not No more pencils no more books No more teachers’ ugly looks No more spiders in my tea Making googly eyes at me No more beetles in my bath Trying their hardest to make me laugh Goodbye all the nurses Goodbye all the doctors Goodbye all the sisters And the jolly old Matron too. *** How would you like to be me Stuck in the LCC* A lump of duff And that's enough It's carbolic for tea * London County Council *** When I woke up this morning It was there upon the wall The doctors and the nurses We’re having a game of ball The score was sixty nothing The doctors were ahead When along came an ugly nurse And kicked me out of bed When she brought me my breakfast The bread was hard and stale The water tasted like acid drops That fell into a pail Automatic butter Automatic cheese India rubber sausages And double-jointed peas *** God made the bees The bees made the honey The patients do the work While the nurses get the money That's not fair They don't care They walk about With sawdust in their hair.