Churchtown Farm Field Studies Centre

I talk quite a bit in this blog about disability in my boyhood because it was central to many of my life choices or the choices others made for me in a era where things were either 'normal' or provided for "the handicapped" as the now un PC language put it by various charities presided over by the great and the good.

One thing that remains difficult is finding accessible places to stay that have disability faculities in them and also the kind of role models to help you take control of your life.

At the time a number of charities owned a few places and it was my school send me and a few others to a special centre in June of 1976 and again in 1978.

The place we went  was called Churchtown Field Studies Centre located in the pretty village of  Lanlivery, Lostwithiel, Cornwall which was open from 1975 to 2011 that was owned by the Spastics Society (who became SCOPE as 'Spastic' was a term of abuse they wanted to move away from) and in the period of my first visit it was opened by Royalty so I met them.

As was very much my want, I wore tailored shorts more like a junior boy when I was there even though the other boys had on longs despite being twelve and fourteen respectively at the time.

It was a place build mainly from disused farm buildings carefully converted  into full wheelchair accessible centre with accommodation block where we went on outdoor activities such as learning about nocturnal mammals setting humane traps to see them later, finding out about foxes, moths and butterflies  an rambling around the grounds.

It also served as a base to explore on free days the area so we went to the Wheel Martyn Museum, saw how china clay was made  and sent to Stoke on Trent for pottery production (where my local knowledge proved most useful!), visited Bodmin and saw Cornish street dancing  which was fun.

It was one the things I loved in that era because it helped me come out of my shell more given some of negative experiences of a few years before and not being really encouraged to explore nature as a disabled child, learning to take risks.