Description:The initial cottage homes complex incorporated not only a school, chapel and swimming pool but also an infirmary.
Children who had infectious diseases could be kept away from other children in the infirmary and receive treatment. As was in vogue at the time, part of the hospital was open to the elements so that patients could benefit from 24 hour fresh air.
Bob Mackenzie’s recollections of the infirmary in the 1930s:
"I went along to the infirmary which was at the top end of the drive. It had two wards of 20 beds each, one at either end of the building (one for boys and one for girls), and attached to each were three isolation wards. In between was the surgery and waiting room. All this was run by Sister Wilson, ably assisted by Nurses Oakley and James and two junior nurses." [The Birmingham Historian issue 15]
By 1965, the sick bay, as the infirmary was then known, was not only used for children who were ill, but also for the long-term accommodation of nursery age children. However, this was not ideal as the unit had no garden for young children to play in.
When the homes became independent of one another in 1966, the homes took responsibility for their own medical arrangements and the sick bay was changed into an emergency reception unit, taking in children at short notice and giving them overnight accommodation while decisions were taken about their future.
As an emergency reception unit, the Lindens had 14 beds. In 1979 the function of the emergency reception unit was transferred from the Lindens to Ravenshurst – the fall in demand for emergency reception meant that an eight bed unit was thought to be adequate.
In 1983, the Lindens Children’s Home was converted into office accommodation for Area 6 Social Services.
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Image: The Lindens building in 2010 when it was empty and due to be sold by Birmingham City Council. Photograph courtesy of Gudrun Limbrick.
Source: This history was compiled by the Birmingham Children's Homes Project, an initiative to explore Birmingham City Council-run children’s homes between 1949 and 1990.
If you have any further information about this children's home or photographs of the building you would like to share with the project, please contact gudrun.limbrick@birmingham.gov.uk