Address: Fir Tree Road, Banstead, Surrey
Closed in 1975
Beecholme was a children’s home in Fir Tree Road, Banstead, Surrey. It was founded in 1879 as a Residential School for poor children from the slums of Kensington and Chelsea and run under a Village system. The houses were run by ‘house parents’. There was a school, chapel, playing fields, etc. The regime was tough, corporal punishment was rife and frequent. Sexual abuse against the children has also been alleged. Later, children came from other parts of London and the London County Council took over responsibility, followed by Wandsworth Borough Council. In 1974 the school was closed and the property sold for development as the High Beeches Estate. The site was demolished in 1975.
James Reeves, Islington Survivor (deceased) told his story to the Surrey Live website;
Grandfather claims he used to get dragged from his bed to be raped at Surrey children’s home. Beechholme children’s home is under investigation by Surrey Police, and former resident James Reeves claims he suffered appalling abuse during his time there
Craig Simpson 10, 05 Oct 2017
James Reeves, 71, says he has been scarred for life
An anguished pensioner who says he was repeatedly raped, beaten and humiliated at a children’s home is still tortured by the horrific memories six decades later.
James Reeves has been scarred by the abuse he says he endured during his time at Beechholme, the former Banstead “children’s village”, when he was just six years old.
He claims that he and other children were randomly dragged from their beds at night to be raped and forced into sex acts by groups of adults.
The grandfather says he would lie awake in terror waiting for his turn to come, and cry with guilty relief when another child was chosen to suffer instead of him.
Now 71 years old he is still reduced to tears by the memories of Beechholme which have haunted him for more than six decades and cast a shadow over both of his broken marriages.
“I’m still not over it, it’s still there,” a tearful James told the Surrey Mirror.
“I’m 71 years old and it’s still there.
“I still have them today – nightmares. Flashbacks hit me without warning.”
The pained pensioner is taking comfort from the current investigation by Surrey Police into alleged historic child abuse at Beechholme, where he claims there was “humiliation and violence all the time”.
Beechholme was known as a “children’s village” and the idyllic series of “cottages” at the site housed hundreds of vulnerable youngsters from tough and impoverished backgrounds.
It was run by London County Council from 1930 to 1965, when the council dissolved. It was then overseen by Wandsworth Council from then until its closure in 1974. The home was demolished the following year.
Cedar House, one of the ‘cottages’ housing children at Beechholme
James was brought to the vast Surrey site from London in 1952. He was abandoned by his parents and had been fostered and re-homed several times before arriving at the Banstead site now under investigation.
The six-year-old James was, he says, immediately subjected to violence and sexual depravity.
He was assigned one of 23 named houses which would become his home and, he claims, the site where his horrific memories were made.
“I still find myself sitting in a room alone and crying, to this day still crying,” said an emotional James.
“It happened to me and I can’t do anything to change that.”
After being beaten on arrival at Beechholme, James says he was plucked out of bed and blindfolded before being taken downstairs from his dormitory. He heard men’s voices around him discussing “what they were going to do”.
“They tried to bugger me and I screamed out,” said the 71-year-old.
“Then they put what I believe now was a penis in my mouth.
“I got a slap because they said my teeth were biting. This happened a few times.
“There could have been three, four or five people in the room.
“I was taken back to bed and told that if I opened my mouth about what happened I would get it. I was frightened, terrified.”
James says that there were around seven young boys in his dormitory who were abused. He claims that at random the children would be taken from their beds and led downstairs to be raped and abused at the hands of groups of men.
He claims he never knew which night it would be his turn to face the torture, and would lie awake paralysed by fear.
“I used to stay awake for hours wondering if I was to be taken again,” said James. “When it was another boy I was relieved – I hate myself for that
“I cried under the blankets with relief it wasn’t me this time but, knowing they were being sexually abused, tears flowed.”
While this alleged abuse carried on at night, during the day James claims humiliation and violence at Beechholme were rife.
He says that beatings were common at the children’s home and that he was bathed naked with boys and girls in ice-cold water.
On one occasion when ill, claims James, he was forced to eat his own vomit after struggling to keep down a meal.
He said: “Humiliation and violence all the time – it was a very strict regime there.”
“The abuse continued and continued.”
James Reeves claims to have suffered rape and violence at Beechholme
This alleged abuse at the home is now being investigated by Surrey Police who are looking into claims of historic sexual abuse between 1957 and 1974. A spokeswoman for the force confirmed that “enquiries are ongoing” into “non-recent allegations” at Beechholme.
The “children’s village”, so-called for its vast size, once had for a swimming instructor the paedophile William Hook, who was convicted of 26 charges of sexual abuse in 2001. Hook also worked at Shirley Oaks Children’s Home, which is alleged to have been the site of systematic abuse.
The superintendent of Shirley Oaks between 1952 and 1964, when abuse was alleged to have taken place, was Clifford Heap. He had previously founded a boy Scouts group at Becchholme in 1952.
Beechholme was also included in a 2014 Department for Education list of institutions believed to have been visited by Jimmy Savile.
Former residents of the vast children’s home are now coming forward and speaking out about abuse they allege took place at Beecholme. Speaking out, according to 71-year-old James, was not possible when he was a boy.
He attempted to tell a member of staff about what happened, but was promptly told that those who “tell tales” would be sent to “bad places”. Within weeks James was shipped out of Beechholme, but the memories would remain.
As a result further exploitation and abuse would, he claims, follow him as he grew older.
He said: “All your life you are vulnerable, they can read that you are an easy target.”
Desperate to escape the care system which he feared so much, James began life on the streets at the age of 14.
To survive the teenager was forced to engage in sex work across London, preyed upon, he says, by exploitative older men.
His life eking out an existence with a band of fellow “rent boys” eventually came to an end.
“We weren’t sex workers as I see it, we were survivors,” said James, who is not homosexual. “Although they called us rent boys, we wouldn’t have survived otherwise and I don’t apologise for it.”
James believes the alleged abuse he suffered at Beechholme sent him down the path to a life of exploitation and desperation on the streets.
He eventually managed to work jobs driving mini-cabs and taxis, and took steps toward a normal life with his first marriage in 1973.
But the demons of Beechholme still haunted him.
He said: “It’s affected my life. It affected my marriage because I couldn’t touch a woman.
“I thought sex was bad, that it was wrong.
“I was first married in 1973, but it was difficult. We stayed great friends but I couldn’t touch her.
“I married again in 1982. It was the same. It affected my life.”
Although James is still haunted by his past, he is encouraged by other former residents of Beechholme coming forward to tell their stories. He hopes that speaking of his own harrowing experiences will persuade others to step forward.
James also wrote on the following website along with other Beecholme survivors and many photographs of the school. The link is below.
Case 1: Personal story of a survivor of abuse at Beecholme
My name is James Reeves. I was born in 1946. I was in a children’s home called Beecholme, in Banstead, Surrey. I was in a house in the children’s home called Jasmine. I think I was 7 years old – had spent younger years in foster care. I can remember their names – the Porters. My foster dad wasn’t involved in abuse that I remember it’s the only thing I remember about foster carers except on one birthday my foster dad bought me a brown 3 wheel tricycle. I can remember standing on the kitchen table just a cloth nappy on being abused by women and grown up children, being locked in some cupboard for hours every day that’s all I can remember from foster care.
My next memory is Beecholme, Jasmine house. I was taken there by a woman who handed me over to the House Mistress of Jasmine House. That woman who took me to Jasmine House was my mother. The next time we would meet was when I was 12. I was shown into a dining room then stripped naked, was beaten on my bottom hard by the House Mistress, Miss Cullen. I was then taken into a large bathroom with 2 baths end to end. The bathroom was crowded with other naked boys and girls, one bath was for boys, the other was for girls.
The Administration Building housed the Superintendent and his staff during the day. Most of the kids only visited this building when they were in trouble
The water was never changed. There were 2 other female staff in there; one Miss Malden, the other Miss Kilbane (who was lovely throughout my stay and had no hand in any off my abuses). After bath, we were marched out up the stairs to our dormitories. It must have been not more than 20 minutes later, I remember being pulled roughly out off my bed by a man who took my nightshirt off and took me downstairs. I was told to face the wall, opposite a room which was occupied by people.
Every time any one came out of that room I was slapped hard on my bare bum. I was standing facing the wall for what seemed like ages, then I heard people leaving the room and going out the front door. I was then blind-folded and taken into that room and sexually assaulted by 2 people. One tried to bugger me, but stopped when I screamed. Next I remember something hard being put in my mouth. I was crying and shaking with fear, I was so scared. I was told to suck on the thing in my mouth, but was whacked round the head. I heard one person say “He’s no good – his teeth are digging in”. I was then taken back to my dormitory and put into bed, told not to look round or I would get it. The person removed the blindfold. I was frozen, scared, crying. Then I heard the door shut. I lay there scared to move. I must have fallen asleep.
The Avenue ran the entire length of Beechholme. At one end there was the sick bay and Rowen House, then there were seven houses each side before you came to the school on the left and the nursery on the right. The Administration building was midway and on the left, the entrance road was on the right. The Avenue continued on with the Church on the left, staff quarters on the right, then there were four more houses on each side finally ending with a large hall across the end of the road. The houses accommodated about 20 to 25 children (mostly boys), plus the house mother (or house parents).
We were woken up by Miss Malden, the other staff member. I tried to speak to her but she would not listen to me. I tried to talk to Miss Cullen who seemed in charge of Jasmine House. She pulled me into her office and told me ”Children who lie are sent away to bad places. Is that what you want?”. I remember saying “No Miss”. I know they had a school there but can’t seem to think about that. I remember we were all at our tables for tea. After tea, Miss Cullen used to put her chair in the middle of the dining room floor and call us boys to stand in line.
She then would one-by-one strip us and spank our bottoms hard in front of the girls. This happened every night after tea, 7 days of every week. Other times at dinner, puddings were served. 10 times while I was there they served figs and custard.
I was eating a fig it was horrible and I was sick all over my pudding, and was forced to eat it. Other times I was sick over figs and custard, Miss Kilbane (when she saw Miss Cullen go) would come and remove it and give me a cuddle. She seemed helpless and – I don’t know – I’m sure a few times she had tears in her eyes.
I never saw men in the house during the day, only at nights when they used to take me downstairs and repeat their abuse. God knows how many other boys there were abused like me, at nights. It was no good complaining, no one would listen to me. One day I was told I was leaving, to be taken to another children’s home. I was picked up by car by a LCC Social Worker. I was driven to Hutton children’s residential home, in Shenfield, Essex.
Historical link here
Beechholme – a children’s village is a book about Beecholme which can be ordered from the above website. Also, Steven Harris has published a book about his memories of this children’s home.
Islington Survivors Network 