Forhill House Remand Home
FORHILL PHOTOGRAPHS
I have been given a large number of photographs
of boys at Forhill (and Tennal) in the early 1950s.
If you were there, there may be photos of you. Please see below for details.
Forhill House was established as remand home in 1945 with funding from Barrow Cadbury.
It was a large house two miles south of Birmingham for boys aged between 12 and 17.
The idea of it was that boys were not just contained there but observed and assessed so that their behaviour could be better understood and improved. Around 50 boys could be accommodated at any one time.
The city already had two remand homes for boys at this time – the Moseley Road Remand Home and Fircroft Remand Home, Bournville. The first was for younger boys and the latter was closed during the Second World War.
In 1981, the number of beds at Forhill was reduced from 50 down to 40.
In 1986, Brian Owen retired as principal of Forhill and was replaced by Percy Lea (previously principal of Tennal).
In 1987, Forhill House closed and the remand function was moved to ‘Woodsong’ a new remand unit at St John’s, Erdington.
The Forhill buildings Forhill have since been demolished.
Carol was searhcing through family photos and found a photo album created by a relative of her husband. The relative worked for Birmingham Social Services. Many boys in Forhill and Tennal have been photographed between 1950 and 1957. The phtographs of the buildings and grounds above were also in the collection.
FORHILL & TENNAL
The album has photos of boys at Forhill and boys at Tennal but it iis not possible to know which boys were at which place.
There are some general photos of boys posing in groups or busy in activities in the school but also several specific events were captured:
Abergele September 1950
Army cadets 1951
Earlswood Whitsun 1951
Sports Day 1951
Abergele Camp 1951
"The Site"
Earlswood - Whit. 1951.
Sports Day. August 1951.
"Camp - from sea wall"
Abergele Camp 1951
Earlswood Camp Whitsun 1952
Sports Day 1952
Army Cadets 1952 or 1953
Christmas Entertainment 1953
Sports 1953/1954/1955
Skegness Camp 1955
Above and below:
Skegness Camp 1955
"Lord Mayor Inspects Army Cadets"
Prize Day October 1955
In addition to the above events, there are more general photos from 1950 through to 1975. Some of the photographs have names of the boys, some do not.
It would be great if we could get these photographs to the people featured in them or their close families.
If you (or a close family member) were at Tennal or Forhill in this period, please let me know and we can try to link you with the photos you are in. Please message me at hello@formerchildrenshomes.org.uk
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Please note: we make no charge for getting photographs to the people pictured in them as children. The service and any postage charges are covered by the money raised through adverts on this site and sales of books.
Looking for records:
To get your care records from your time at Tennal (or Forhill), you will need to make a subject access request to Birmingham City Council.
The form you will need to complete is here:
Making a subject access request
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