1950s
Out of Rampton
early 1970s
A journal of SUMP days
1974
Frank Bangay - Minstral of the movement
1977/1982
A Mad People's History of Madness
1977/1979
Anne Plumb - Archivist of the movement
1980s
Joan Hughes - Historian of the
1970s movement
Summer 1990
"The Ex-Patients' Movement: Where We've Been and Where We're
Going"
by Judi Chamberlin
1996
Peter Campbell - Reflecting on the movement
1996
The Health Through History
Initiative
1999 Disability Studies in
Canada
2000-2003
On Our Own Terms
2004/2005
Survivors History Group - archives
2005-2006
Survivors History Group
manifestos
2007 Survivor History
web
2008/2009
Survivors History internet
forum
October 2010
Oor Mad History - The book
About twenty patients began writing letters and staff complained that
Peter's campaign meant they had to spend all their time reading (and
censoring) patients letters. Several time, Peter was warned:
This much battered copy is the property of Andrew Roberts. - It was read
and marked by fellow patients at
Ingrebourne in 1963 and later.
- "The
signatories to
the petition are the Foundation and Permanent Members of
SUMP" [Scottish Union of Mental Patients - see
mental patients unions]
Robin Farquharson is member number 00034 in the SUMP membership
list. He is the first not from
Hartwood. Under "hospital" it says
"
Gartloch (7) transferred to Epsom". The story
I remember being told is that Robin was confined (on this occasion) after
succesfully ordering a (military?) aeroplane - or aeroplanes.
Depression, poetry, recitation and publication In his early twenties, Frank, started suffering from severe depression and anxiety. Expressing himself through poetry helped him to disperse the gloom. He discovered the Troubadour Poets who held Monday night poetry evenings at the Troubadour Coffee House in Earl's Court, and he began reciting his poetry there. One of his ealiest poems, "Fear", was published by Troubadour Poets in late August 1974: It is deeply personal and vulnerable.
"you tell me that I frighten you, Well I never intended to... I'm not a tough man... there are many times when I am afraid... afraid of isolation ... afraid of my superiors... afraid of love... And sometimes I'm frightened of you my friend." Springfield Hospital Frank's 1985 poem "Food and Shelter" relates to experiences in 1976 to 1978 and "the revolving door system that we can get caught up in once we enter the psychiatric system". Frank was a patient in Springfield Hospital, Tooting, South London. Not all his experiences here were negative. He helped Kieran Brown, an Occupational Therapist, to produce Springfield Words, a magazine published by the hospital. It contained "Spring is Rising", a poem of conviction that "peace in our hearts" is "more than a dream" if we "sing out loud" and "make it real". In 1979 Frank helped to organise a half-hour of poetry and songs based round life in Springfield Hospital, featuring Kieran, himself and Dave Dorling, who was also a patient in the hospital. It was staged at the Troubadour and "quite well received". Music, poetry and politics At the end of the 1970s, Frank collaborated with musicians in the Fighting Pigeons Band. "Park Song" one of his most beautiful poems, was written as lyrics to one of their songs. "I saw you crying in the park today. I nearly felt strong enough to cry with you" Prompt - CAPO Frank first read PROMPT booklets in 1979. Music and poetry events were organised by Frank Bangay to raise money for PROMPT and CAPO. Some of these were at The Metropolitan, a public house in Farringdon. Many activists were brought together at these event.
Helen Spandler (left) and Anne Plumb (right) are two of the co-founders of the Greater Manchester Survivor History Group. This picture was taken in September 2008. Anne began to collect books, pamphlets and other documents about the movement in the 1978/1979. Because she keeps her collection in good order, cataloguing and analysing it, her Manchester archive is now one of the most important archives of the survivor movement.
Joan Hughes (1928-2008) drafted a movement outline in the early 1980s and also recorded a confidential autobiography of her experiences at the heart of the Mental Patients Union in the early 1970s
The Health Through History Initiative History is more than a research method for survivors. Tower Hamlets African and Caribbean Mental Health Organisation (THACMHO) was started by mental health service users in 1996. Its projects include "The Health Through History Initiative".
One of THACMHO's publications is Power Writers and the Struggle Against Slavery - Celebrating five African writers who came to the East End of London in the 18th century. Earlier this year (2010) F.E.E.L. (Friends of East End Loonies) hosted a "Pageant of Survivor History", the script for this was written by the Survivors History Group and it began with readings from the autobiography of Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, one of the African writers who was considered foolish or insane.
2000-2003 On Our Own TermsOn Our Own Terms is the most important printed empirical contribution to the academic history of the survivor movement so far. No one else has attempted anything approaching it. The whole research project was collectively controlled by survivors. Depite its academic credentials it is often not noticed by historians outside the survivor history movement.
The On Our Own Terms research is the immediate background to our own work and several of the people involved in it are active members of the Survivor History Group. The Survivor History Group later used its historical table as one of the starting points for our web history of the movement.
2004/2005 Survivors History Group ArchivesSurvivors History Group - archives Survivors History Group began in 2004/2005 as an archival project to rescue the physical history of the mental patients' movement from the skip.
Individually, some of our members preserve extensive archives in their own homes. These include the records of the Scottish Union of Mental Patients (1971-1972) the Mental Patients Union started in London in 1973, Survivors Speak Out (1986-2009) and the United Kingdom Advocacy Network (1991-present). We are seeking ways to preserve such collections for future public access. In the meantime we have adopted a policy of listing important archives in a way modelled on the idea of listed buildings.
Survivors History Group manifestosA summary manifesto drafted in July 2005 became the basis for a fuller statement in January 2006
We adopted some lateral thinking to adapt Peter Beresford's founding vision to our practical means. Our visitors come quietly in by the world wide web and sometimes email us with contributions to the exhibits. But the web site is an an archive and a museum. It is copied every six months or so by the UK Web Archive for perpetual preservation. Anything we put on it will be preserved as securley as a book in the British Library or and exhibit in the British mueseum. The website was adopted by the group in June 2007. The "studymore" site was created to enable archiving by the National Web Archive and this began the following month. The pictorial fish - heart - snake logo was adopted from the archives of the Mental Patients Union at the same time. The website includes: The story/stories of the movement in the form of a timeline. Individuals' stories inter-related to the story of the movement. Detailed information boxes about individual events or groups. Indexes of survivor history related features in magazines such as Asylum and Open Mind. Reviews and summaries of books and articles about survivor history. Copies of articles. Copies of documents and images from the movement's history. Lists of paper records about groups. Lists of books and pamphlets and records of where papers, books and pamphlets are preserved.
October 2010 - Oor Mad History - The book
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