ACCUSED

I was asked by David to write something about this programme screened on
BBC2 about the South Ronaldsay, Orkney child abuse scandal. I was a little
hesitant - not because I didn't want to do it - but where do I start. You
see I now live in Orkney, and I am in the middle of a mini South
Ronaldsay, and it is all a little too close to home, and too raw. But here
goes ....................................

In 1991 I was going through the mill with the Gestapo - my name for Social
Services, and I am sure nobody who has been there will wonder why I call
them that - and the happenings in the outside world rather passed me by.
However, being very fond of Orkney I remember being aware from items in the
press and on television that things were happening in the islands.

In 1992, having got through my own crisis - or so I thought - I treated
myself and my son to a holiday in Orkney. Whilst I was here I kept seeing
things in the paper about South Ronaldsay, and I eventually asked the
local paper if they could give me the name of someone who had been
involved. The name they gave me was the lovely lady who so bravely exposed
her still raw feelings on Tuesday night. I didn't telephone her whilst I
was in Orkney, but on arriving home I did so. We spoke for some time, and
I discovered the full horror of the experiences of those four families.

My son and I came back to Orkney - en route for Shetland and Up Helly A -
in 1994, and briefly met with William and Sandy. Many people have
friendships borne out of joint adversity, and this is one of those
friendships. William and Sandy are lovely, gentle, God-fearing people who
would always go the extra mile to help someone in trouble. For anyone to
imagine they would be involved in what was alleged to have happened on
South Ronaldsay takes a very sick mind indeed. William and Sandy have
managed to move on - heaven knows how - from their excruciating
experience. They now have grandchildren and a good life. Some of the other
families were not so fortunate - and I now know of two other families
whose lives were touched by this tragedy. I met some of the W family in
1997, and I found them to be normal, down to earth, sensible people. I
rode on a horse belonging to the beautiful young lady called May - but
when I knew her she was a rather dumpy thirteen year old, as you can see
from the photograph.

Talk about blossoming out!!!! Morris Mackenzie, the
kindly minister who tried to help the W family, died last year without
even an apology from Orkney Islands Council who so blighted his life. Mrs.
W has left Orkney and so have some of her children. I vividly remember
listening with tears in my eyes as one of the W sons told me that when his
mum had gone from Orkney he couldn't go home anymore, because he didn't
have a home. May put it so well when she said "They took my childhood."
Right now I feel even closer to May because they are taking my
granddaughter's childhood, and she is a little younger than May was in
1991.

The thing that so roused anger in many who watched the programme was the
fact that the social workers involved were so arrogant and still believe
they were right. McLean and Chisholm - or "The Two Fat Ladies From Hell"
as the W children called them - were and still are particularly foul. Also
the guy at the end of the programme who kept saying "We failed these
children." I wish someone would so spectacularly "fail" my granddaughter
right now. The daughter-in-law of a friend of mine watched the programme
in amazement, and said "Why are those social workers talking such crap?"
My friend replied that the problem was that they and many others actually
believe that "crap". Never a truer word spoken ................. our own
personal Fat Lady From Hell recently said that my granddaughter being
unsettled and bursting into tears in the school playground was "evidence
that she is settling into her placement". It would be funny if it wasn't
so tragic.

Knowing the vagaries of the Orkney weather some of the locals at the time
were amused by the fact that the events in South Ronaldsay were supposed
to have taken place in February in the dead of night in a quarry -
"Dancing naked at night in South Ronaldsay in February? I don't think so."
Anyone who has heard the joke about the brass monkeys will know exactly
what that means!!

Many will not know that in the year following the South Ronaldsay fiasco
Orkney Islands Council had another scandal within the social work
department. It involved a lesbian Director of Social Services being
involved with another lesbian in the Complaints Department and complaints
not being properly investigated. A programme about it was broadcast on
Frontline Scotland in 2000, and I have included the transcript with this
article. Two scandals in one decade, and still they have learned nothing.

Remember that just in South Ronaldsay the lives of at least 50 people were
blighted for ever. This abuse is going on everywhere still, and the lives
of children and adults are being destroyed. We have to stop them, and it
must happen soon.

Kathy

Paediatrician Dr. David Reid wrote a book about the South Ronaldsay fiasco
called "Suffer The Little Children". There are some copies available in
exchange for a small donation to AFFECT, an organisation Dr. Reid now
runs, which helps families of prisoners. Please contact Veronica Griffin
on 01243 583264 or e-mail her at affect01@hotmail.com if you would like a
copy.