Speaking for Ourselves: An Oral History of People With Cerebral Palsy Tony Stamford Interviewed by Philip Mann British Library ref. C1134/03/01-06 © The British Library Board and Scope http://sounds.bl.uk IMPORTANT Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this transcript, however no transcript is an exact translation of the spoken word, and this document is intended to be a guide to the original recording, not replace it. Should you find any errors please inform the Oral History curators: Oral History The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB United Kingdom +44 (0)20 7412 7404 [email protected] This interview and transcript is accessible via http://sounds.bl.uk . © The British Library and Scope. Please refer to the Oral History curators at the British Library prior to any publication or broadcast from this document. © The British Library Board and Scope http://sounds.bl.uk The British Library Oral History Interview Summary Sheet Ref no: C1134/03/01-06 Digitised from cassette originals Collection title: Speaking for Ourselves: An Oral History of People With Cerebral Palsy Interviewee’s Stamford Title: Mr surname: Interviewee’s Tony Sex: Male forename: Occupation: Date and place of 1949 birth: Date(s) of recording: 17 th November 2004, 25 th November 2004, 8 th December 2004 Location of interview: Interviewee’s home, Pitsea Name of interviewer: Philip Mann Type of recorder: Marantz CP430 Recording format : D60 Cassettes Number of 6 cassettes : Digitised as: 9 WAV files (16 bit 44.1kHz Mono or stereo: stereo 2-channel, 1411kbps) Total Duration: 04:01:29 (HH:MM:SS) Additional material: Copyright/Clearance: Open. © The British Library Board and Scope Interviewer’s comments: © The British Library Board and Scope http://sounds.bl.uk Tony Stamford Page 1 C1134/03 Tape 1 Side A [Digitised as Part 1] Tape 1 Side A [Track 1] OK, well it’s 17 th November, and I’m talking to Tony Stamford at his home in Pitsea: and, Tony, perhaps I can begin at the very beginning, and ask you when and where you were born? Well, I was born in Paddington, many years ago: in fact, well, as we said earlier, I was born in 1949 in Paddington, very nearly on a bus. I was six weeks early, and premature, and all sorts of odd things like that, which probably would explain how I come to have CP [cerebral palsy], and of course in those days they didn’t know very much about it, and they wouldn’t let my mum leave the hospital because they thought that she would go away and wouldn’t come back for me. So, that was in Paddington. Then they didn’t finally find out exactly a diagnosis of what was wrong with me until I was two. I don’t know if I’m going too fast: if you want me to fill in any little bits before then... So were you then your parents’ first child, or ...? No, no, I’ve got a sister. I have a sister who’s a little bit older than me, although she always told me when she lived in a village somewhere the other side of whatsit’s, that if ever I saw any of her friends, that I was the older brother, because that was the situation she had with her friends, so I always remember that, although, in fact she is a couple of years older than me, and anybody can work that out for themselves. Where did you live then Tony? We moved from Paddington down onto the Debden Estate, and then from there, when I was nine, I went away to school – one of the society’s schools, the Wilfred Pickles School – and I stayed there until I was 16, and I then went to the further education centre at Dene Park. OK, if we can just... © The British Library Board and Scope http://sounds.bl.uk Tony Stamford Page 2 C1134/03 Tape 1 Side A [Digitised as Part 1] There’s lots of bits in between that which we’ll go back to, as and when you think we ought to, or whatever. So what have you been told, you know, about your early days then Tony? Well my early days: I’ve always been an awkward child and I think my stubbornness – I’ve always been an awkward person, really – my stubbornness is one of the reasons why I’ve survived, if you like, and my parents always taught, I have a sister, as I said previously, us to be well-mannered and so that we weren’t an embarrassment, either to yourself or to them. And even nowadays, you know, I spend a lot of time in one of the local pubs round ’ere, and I always say to people, ‘I try not to swear in the pub for two reasons: one is that I don’t like swearing too much, you know, one often swears when you’re having a joke amongst your friends, but I’m always conscious of the fact that there are more and more ladies in pubs now, and of course there’s always the thought that, perhaps, if they’re in pubs on their own, they’re not ladies, but that just proves how old-fashioned I am. [Laughs.] And I don’t like swearing as a normal kind of thing, and I also believe myself that speech is an art, really, and I like to use the odd big word. I don’t really think that was what you asked me, so I think, if I could ask you to refresh my memory? So you were born six weeks premature, and you didn’t get the diagnosis of cp until you were two? Yes. What memories do you have: what’s your earliest memory? My earliest memory I would think would be when I had my tonsils out, and I can remember, that was at Great Ormond Street Hospital, them putting the mask over your face with the Chloroform as they used to in those days: you didn’t have any pre- meds or stuff like that. I can still remember that now, and I was three: so that’s my earliest memory. And, at that time, what was the effect of the cerebral palsy? © The British Library Board and Scope http://sounds.bl.uk Tony Stamford Page 3 C1134/03 Tape 1 Side A [Digitised as Part 1] Well, at that time, wheelchairs weren’t so much in evidence, and my mum or dad used to push me around in a big Royal Pram: not a pram... well, like it would be equivalent to a buggy nowadays, like: but a green pram, I remember that cos I can just about remember still being pushed about in it. I’ve just pulled the microphone off, I’m sorry. That’s all right, Tony. OK, we’ll just put that back. But I can still remember being pushed around in that pram. [Rustling noise.] Shall I come a little closer, then you can... Mm. ... Make it slightly easier for you to pin it back on. There we go. So perhaps we can go from the top there Tony. Tony, what was the effect of your cerebral palsy in your early years? Oh well, I could never quite walk without sticks, and I used to spend a lot of time crawling, because that was the easier way of getting round, and I remember – I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one – but my dad, who was a precision engineer, borrowed a Bona-ped from Great Ormond Street Hospital. What’s a Bona-ped? It’s a particular type of walking frame: I’ve never seen one for years. And being a precision engineer, my dad was able to adapt the... he borrowed one, took it apart, and worked out how to make something similar, but he made the handle that much different so they couldn’t get him under patent rights, and stuff like that, because he certainly couldn’t afford what I think it must have been something like £7.50 to buy one. So he, being rather resourceful, went and made one in his spare time, out of metal and stuff like that, and I was always a chubby child, so it was always difficult for people to lift me around, And I used to walk with one stick, or maybe two sticks, © The British Library Board and Scope http://sounds.bl.uk Tony Stamford Page 4 C1134/03 Tape 1 Side A [Digitised as Part 1] and it was always an effort, but I enjoyed it. Then, as my weight progressed my knees sort of, you know, rubbed together as you walk, and then when I was 13 or 14 my left hip started to come in and out: I think they call it ‘a sub-located dislocated hip’, but as I told you previously, I’m not into medical terms, I don’t really know. Now, Great Ormond Street, in their wisdom, operated on my hip but they gave me an operation which is the way you would operate on a baby with dislocated hips that were coming in and out, and although it was the right operation for then, it was the wrong operation for somebody who had grown, so I then had to go to Stanmore and they had to re-do it, but that’s... So when did you first begin to walk, even with the aid of sticks? I suppose, I can’t remember, but I suppose when I was three or four.