Sarah Barratt, David Kessel, Brian Harvey, Charlen Elliott,Myra Garrett, Joe Kelly, Nat F (December 2010)
Friends of East End Loonies (F.E.E.L.) started meeting in November 2007 from an idea of the poet David Kessel,
a retired physician and mental health activist, with the support of
Myra Garrett, a remarkable phenomenal woman that has been living and
working in Tower Hamlets, committing to the voluntary sector since 1976
and actively campaigning around health, housing and getting rid of
nuclear weapons (Tower Hamlets CND) still today.
- Promoting the creative arts and holistic pathways, such as herbal/traditional medicine, complementary therapies and talking therapies, as ways to deal with mental illnesses and distress in the short and long term.
- Raising awareness and severe concerns about the "Psychiatric Cosh" (the use of powerful chemicals used to knock out psychiatry patients while in custody), highlighting the iatrogenic injury of this overly-medicalised pseudo-science system.
F.E.E.L. created a safe circle where to meet and support each other, offering empowering alternatives to local and remote individuals looking for best solutions to deal with mental and emotional health/distress.
Myra, David and several other of us, previously attended the Friends of St. Clements meetings, which were chaired by Myra since 1987; these took place within the Mile End mental health asylum.
St Clements Hospital - The origins
The initial building opened in 1849 as the City of London Union Workhouse. In 1874 the site was converted into an infirmary for the same Union. Mental patients came here for examination and assessment before being sent to other institutions or being discharged. In 1902 it had 511 beds. When the Homerton Workhouse reopened in 1909, the infirmary became superfluous and was closed.
However, it reopened in 1912 as the City of London Institution to treat the chronically ill. It was later renamed the Bow Institution.
The LCC took over administration in 1930, when all the Boards of Guardians were abolished. In 1933 the number of beds in the Institution was increased to 786 and a mental observation unit established. In 1935 fire destroyed the west wing and the main building.
In 1936 the Institution was renamed St Clement's Hospital.
Between 2005-7 St Clements Hospital was moved to a new wing in the nearby Mile End Hospital. Friends of St Clements's temporarily had no longer a space where to meet; it was during this period that David Kessel suggested that the group should reform as a new independent, anarchist group, suggesting the name of Friends of East End Loonies.
Eventually, later on a new space to continue the Friends of St Clements's meetings was found within the new Mile End Hospital unit. The meetings carried on happening monthly until 2014 when, due to lack of interest or cooperation from hospital staff, caused the group to end.
Friends of East End Loonies
Friends of East End Loonies met for the first time in November 2007, for an informal chat at the Whitechapel Idea Store café. One month later F.E.E.L. found a permanent meeting space at LARC (London Action Resource Centre), where regular meetings took place on the 3rd Monday of each month. We discussed news and anything related to mental health and services, planned special meetings and larger events, mostly held at the historical Kingsley Hall in Bow, inviting critical and progressive figures from the mental health and (anti!)psychiatric field.
Nerveless we were a very diverse group of people, profound and supporting bonds, family-like, were developed over these past years.
Thank you to each and everyone of you that have walked along our path and contributed to these past years of activities, offering your support and interest. Wishing you well!
Blog and social media have been created and curated by Nat F to keep digital archives of our work. We also wish for these to be a source of hope and inspiration to anyone going trough difficult times, wherever people accessing these are based in the World. In Solidarity!
During WW2, when it had 397 beds, the Hospital was badly damaged by bombs in 1944. In 1948 it joined the NHS and the bomb damage was repaired.
By 1959 the Hospital had become exclusively psychiatric. It became part of the London Hospital Group in 1968 and was then called the London Hospital (St Clement's).
In 1974, after another NHS upheaval, it became part of the Tower Hamlets Health District, when it had 146 beds. By 1979 it had 135 beds.
In 2003 the East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust decided to sell the site for redevelopment. The Hospital closed in 2005, with clinical services moving to a new purpose-built adult mental health facility at Mile End Hospital.
In 2003 the East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust decided to sell the site for redevelopment. The Hospital closed in 2005, with clinical services moving to a new purpose-built adult mental health facility at Mile End Hospital.
The Hospital buildings are listed and the whole 4.57 acre site is within a conservation area.
We're Not Mad We're Angry, (1986)
https://youtu.be/qD36m1mveoY
https://youtu.be/qD36m1mveoY
Friends of St Clements
Since the mid 1950s hospital patients received some support from the official League of Friends. This was a group of individuals that offered a trolley service with library books, newspapers, basic commodities such as sweets and toothpaste. Most importantly inpatients received a bit of sympathy from the Friends, which vastly lacked from the general public in their life outside the asylum.
Since the mid 1950s hospital patients received some support from the official League of Friends. This was a group of individuals that offered a trolley service with library books, newspapers, basic commodities such as sweets and toothpaste. Most importantly inpatients received a bit of sympathy from the Friends, which vastly lacked from the general public in their life outside the asylum.
Inactive for some time the volunteers rejoined and registered the Friends of St Clement's as a charity in 1987, following the concerns of a carer about the treatment of her husband within the hospital. Patients, friends, family members and staff started meeting to discuss what was beneficial and what was harmful in the hospital methods.
Chaired by the awesome Myra Garrett, in 1992 Friends of St Clement's established the Social Club, a communal recurrent meeting space run by inpatients in the Wandsworth Stanley Hall, coordinated by Hyacinth Taylor.
A creative writing group started publishing the Club journal in 1995.
Between 2005-7 St Clements Hospital was moved to a new wing in the nearby Mile End Hospital. Friends of St Clements's temporarily had no longer a space where to meet; it was during this period that David Kessel suggested that the group should reform as a new independent, anarchist group, suggesting the name of Friends of East End Loonies.
Eventually, later on a new space to continue the Friends of St Clements's meetings was found within the new Mile End Hospital unit. The meetings carried on happening monthly until 2014 when, due to lack of interest or cooperation from hospital staff, caused the group to end.
Some of the Friends of St Clements Team visiting the
old hospital site in 2013: Nat, David, Alison Norman & Myra
Photo courtesy by Jean Jameson
Friends of East End Loonies
Friends of East End Loonies met for the first time in November 2007, for an informal chat at the Whitechapel Idea Store café. One month later F.E.E.L. found a permanent meeting space at LARC (London Action Resource Centre), where regular meetings took place on the 3rd Monday of each month. We discussed news and anything related to mental health and services, planned special meetings and larger events, mostly held at the historical Kingsley Hall in Bow, inviting critical and progressive figures from the mental health and (anti!)psychiatric field.
Myra, David, Dr Moncrieff and Nat at Kingsley Hall, May 2017
Thank you to each and everyone of you that have walked along our path and contributed to these past years of activities, offering your support and interest. Wishing you well!
Selfie at LARC - Autumn 2017
