ON THEIR HONOUR

Evening Star, Issue 22444, 15 September 1936, Page 12

ON THEIR HONOUR

BOY CRIMINALS FREE TO RUN AWAY BAD LADS NOW GOOD CITIZENS 1 How we wish that Charles Dickens, whose tales woke people to the cruelty and stupidity of Britain’s schools and prisons in past days, could see Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire, which combines both school and prison-.in happy unison, says a London writer. The boys sent here by the Prison Commissioners are just those youngsters whom a grim prison might have turned into habitual criminals, no good for anything; but a different treatment is turning them into reliable citizens. It is about seven years since a group of 43 boys marched from a Borstal in- . stitution in Kent all the way to this farm house in Nottinghamshire. Some were thieves, some burglars, others were violent young ruffians; but they were all on their honour and no guard* marched with them. - THE PIONEER, At their head walked Mr W. W, Llewellin, the pioneer in this happy experiment, and Mr C. T. Cape, the present governor. Each night the tired boys were welcomed by members of the Toe H, and one week-end they spent as guests of Toe H in Leicester. ._ After nine days they arrived at their new home, an attractive farm house among the fields. They camped in tents on the lawn at first, until they had built themselves huts for the colder weather; and later, with the help of a local builder, they raised fine school - buildings round the old farm. Now they are laying out a swimming bath with lawns all round, singing and whistling as they work. _ Neither at night nor in the daytime does the lock turn on them. One _ of the masters may see a boy running through the fields, but he trusts him, and it probably turns out that he was catching a runaway colt or chasing some pigs back to their pasture. Of 500 boys chosen at Wormwood Scrubs to go to the farm, only 52 have bolted, and of these 50 thought better of it and. went back. They are kept busy and happy, working on the farm and in the woods, building what hey need, even to a stage fitted with all the necessary electrical apparatus for lighting their, plays. A recent visitor caught them rehearsing a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. ' GOOD BROUGHT OUT. Most of these lads from England and Wales turned to crime because of something wrong in thei rhomes or their circumstances. What was right in themselves is brought out by understanding treatment. . ' ■ Other Borstal boys go to Feltham in Kent, to Portland, and to the Isle of Wight; but the boys who go to this, or those who go to the sea camp near Boston, are those who are as keen to make something good of themselves as the authorities are to help them. They give their word not to escape, and though the way is open to them few. take it; and when we see the happy, self-confident life they lead at Lowd« ham Grange we may well imagine that some, though eager for a new life, are as sorry to leave as any other boy i« to leave his old school. Of 282 lads who have left Lowdhanj Grange after from a few months to over two years there, only 16 have been caught at their old tricks again. That is the answer to the question wbethel the experiment is a successful one.