I lived in and worked at Danesbury as a chef for 14+ years ..and knew most of the people in this Documentary…the staff were very caring for the residents….Mr Barton when he came to Danesbury to take over as Manager Nursing officer made it more of a home than a hospital for the residents ( patients)…in the court yard we made a rabbit Run …and there was an aviary with finches etc …there were lots of fund raising events ..I was 18 years old in 1972 and left 1986 …florrie a resident who is seen sitting next to Joe (the hit and run victim )…taught him how to write and communicate, …Louie lamb was a great inspiration to other residents with her determination…Dennis and his best mate bill ( not shown were a great laugh ) next year I will be 70 ….and this Documentary is a beautiful tribute to their memory and all who worked there ….thank you Jenny !
Great stuff. I always like the films out of the archives from mid 70s. That is the best time for me. This was a real tear jerker and i can understand the comment from the woman who watched it twice in quick succession.
I feel sorry for anyone like Elizabeth in those days, but in someways its probably worse now than it was then , thank you for making and sharing these stories. I love old documentaries.
What a lovely gem of a documentary. So heartbreaking in many ways, especially Elizabeth who clings on to her husband and doesn’t want to let go of him when he visits her. There’s also something about Freda and the vitality she has that exudes from her yet she’s helpless to do much about it. Such a shame for all of them. So much credit is due to the nursing staff as well, who have a thankless task and do the best that they can for the patients. I watched the film twice on the trot, as it made me realize how fortunate I am and to reevaluate all the small things that we take so much for granted, a really well made documentary.
Totally agree, having been wallowing in my own self pity lately about health related issues, this documentary has made me realise how truly fortunate I am ❤
Yes me to. It really tugged at the heart strings. I was born in the mid sixties and Man Alive was popular in the 70s. I had totally forgotten about this programme till now. May they all rest in peace. They were all comparatively young really. N
My mum and I both worked at Danesbury Hospital, my mum from 1976-2007 and me before my nurse training. I remember Louie well and Florrie (always my favourite) learnt so much about life working there, it was truly a magical place X
Thank you Jenny for the video upload and for your valuable career in general. It's important to have these films archived to measure, and compare, how we are and interact with each other at different times.
Thank you for sharing this with the world, I wish more people were watching it!It was light years ahead of it's time. I wonder if such a film could ever be made today. So many comments about the interviewer or the questions asked,I think that he was spot on. And comments blaming the era... people were certainly not more abrupt or less feeling,in fact I think that there is a strong case to argue the opposite. I can assure you that the people concerned would have been having conversations about the consequences of a degenerative illness with their nearest &dearest, doctors, nurses& strangers on the bus! There's very little else on your mind when you are continually monitoring yourself for any sign of progression& being acknowledged by someone honest enough to give you the chance to talk about it is much more likely to be a relief than an insult! Dear Leonard, the dentist,was right when he spoke about keeping up the pretence of being positive &how you can even sometimes fool yourself. Even poor Frida, overwhelmed with the horror of it all couldn't name it. It's other people. After all the soul searching about 'what have I done wrong ' whether you mean that on some sort of 'karmic' level or purely physical (maybe I should have eaten more vegetables!) the one immutable truth is that the happy, healthy people who can't fix it even if they have the will to, can't bear to be around you if you're honest. In order to keep the visitors coming, to be in favour with the nurses you have to show a plucky, cheerful courage. If you run out of steam or are simply tired and overwhelmed it repels them.And that is timeless.
So true you got it in one. This was quite upsetting to watch. I was a teenager in the late 70s but with the passage of time i feel really sad about these documentaries. Maybe if it was in colour instead of black & white and not so drab i would have coped better. It got down to the bare bones and was very gritty and true to life. Nobody was pretending it was easy. It makes you grateful for your life in comparison.
Thank you for sharing your film Jenny. Having watched it I find it hard to express the effect it has had on me. The interview technique was at times quite brutal and I was saddened by the husband's what seemed to me, callous opinion of his poor wife. The images of people before they were struck by disease really brought home the devastating effect it had on their lives. I was born in 1954, left school in 1970. In 1971 I worked in a home for severely handicapped children as a Community Service Volunteer. The home, Trefoil School near Edinburgh, was also a large old house, the children similarly effected by devastating diseases like muscular dystrophy, polio, spina bifida and like the residents in the film, some had visitors, some not. I grew very fond of the children who faced immense challenges very often with enormous courage and often with humour. Your film brought lots of memories flooding back, along with the unique 'flavour' of that decade.
wow! this documentary is hard hitting!! people seemed so much harder and colder, how real and aware they all are makes it feel so stark compared to today! I was fascinated to watch this ! thank you for putting this up!
An incredibly painful and brutally honest documentary. I cannot express enough how painful to watch this is, from the brutal questions by the reporter to the sadness of those trapped in deteriorating lives. Nothing is spared. If ever you needed to feel grateful for your life, this work reminds you. I wonder truthfully how far we have come? I fear not very far at all. Too many elderly people are living silent condemned lives and too many suffer the blows of society’s complacency. A very moving documentary which is still relevant and painfully valuable. Wouldn’t it be good to make a current documentary on the same subject to see if we have moved on and just where the issues are today by comparison.
Terribly sad. A really valuable social history document of a time well within living memory that seems very distant now. Watching these wonderful documentaries, I'm reminded of that quote from Thackeray used at the end of Barry Lyndon. "Good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now." Hopefully still premature for some of the people in the documentary, but unlikely. Thank you so much for sharing your work, Jenny Barraclough.
That first guy, the husband is a very curious fellow. Openly resentful. She's not even that bad! He's made her feel hopeless and useless because he's a shit. Even the nurse is asking him about her while she's right there. It's like an episode of Human Remains. Might even be an inspiration
I couldn't imagine being treated like this. I have brain tumors and epilepsy. Even on bad days when I can't talk after a seizure, paramedics and hospital staff always speak to me, they ask me questions and don't make me feel invisible or stupid
Hi there - I’m trying to find an episode of Man Alive aired 20 June 1973/12 December 1973 about a boxing coach in Bethnal Green called Billy Howick. Sadly Billy died a few years ago but I’m trying to help his daughter find some footage of him. Can you help at all please? Many thanks
I'm glad I watched this. I hope life is, or was kinder to them, especially the quietly desperate Freda Force. Most of all I wish talented Bill Sykes had a better future with his family than the one predicted for him.
This was a very interesting documentary. There were several times where I felt that the host was being far too judgmental towards the families of the patients but I think he was trying to show the range of emotions that caretakers in this situation have. Something that bothered me afterwards was the fact that the Jewish dentist could still play piano and speak well enough and I'm sure he was able to feed himself. I didn't understand why he had been there for so very long when he was still married and his wife still came to visit him? The man should have been at home and had lost several years unnecessarily by being in that facility
It is not colour tv. Many people still had black and white TVs up till 1973 to '75. They were very expensive here in Britain. I think it makes it look more grim and bare than it actually was in my opinion. But that was the stark reality of it and we pretty much saw it all like it was as a few workers back in the day have already commented on. It wasn't all bad and it wasn't all good but the staff did their utmost to make it a pleasant place for the residents to live.
I'm sure nobody's ever watched this or it's been a very long time since somebody has watched this on this channel but I'm a little put off by the host of this thing prying into this couples marriage. It's one thing to show how their marriage is suffered because of this but he's interrogating them about the inside of their marriage. It's ridiculous.
I can assure you that it's nothing to do with the time this film was made. And to assume some sort of offence on behalf of those being interviewed can only be done from a sheltered position of lucky ignorance. Do you really think that the people concerned don't have these conversations continually, between themselves and with their friends and family?? Disability and life shortening illnesses have a way of forcing you to face uncomfortable and unpaletable truths. That doesn't change from one decade to the next, you can paint the walls bright colours and drown the sound of despair by blaring a television all day but if you are losing the ability to feed and toilet yourself nothing changes how grim that is. Thankfully the drugs available for M.S. are so good now that it no longer automatically qualifies as a disability,or even a blue badge! But not all forms fall into this and there are many many other conditions to destroy a life.
![MAN ALIVE "The Other Half" [1970]](/img/n.gif)
I lived in and worked at Danesbury as a chef for 14+ years ..and knew most of the people in this Documentary…the staff were very caring for the residents….Mr Barton when he came to Danesbury to take over as Manager Nursing officer made it more of a home than a hospital for the residents ( patients)…in the court yard we made a rabbit Run …and there was an aviary with finches etc …there were lots of fund raising events ..I was 18 years old in 1972 and left 1986 …florrie a resident who is seen sitting next to Joe (the hit and run victim )…taught him how to write and communicate, …Louie lamb was a great inspiration to other residents with her determination…Dennis and his best mate bill ( not shown were a great laugh ) next year I will be 70 ….and this Documentary is a beautiful tribute to their memory and all who worked there ….thank you Jenny !
Great stuff. I always like the films
out of the archives from mid 70s.
That is the best time for me. This was a real tear jerker and i can understand the comment from the woman who watched it twice in quick succession.
Beautiful tribute, I wish you a very happy birthday for your 70th
@@louisesomers5560 thank you!x
@@donwilsmore3945lovely tribute, thanks for giving more insight. Hope you're doing well Don.. I was 9 in '72. ❤ from Derry, N.I.
I am so pleased a few people have discovered this film and found it worthwhile . I was very moved by the people in it as I filmed
Thanks very much for this film Jenny.
Is there no way BFI or Network can give all these Man Alive documentaries dvd releases?
Great documentary. They don't make them like this anymore. That's a fact. A real insight into a bygone era and so sad.
I've just watched it and found it interesting and moving. Thank you for posting.
I feel sorry for anyone like Elizabeth in those days, but in someways its probably worse now than it was then , thank you for making and sharing these stories. I love old documentaries.
What a lovely gem of a documentary. So heartbreaking in many ways, especially Elizabeth who clings on to her husband and doesn’t want to let go of him when he visits her. There’s also something about Freda and the vitality she has that exudes from her yet she’s helpless to do much about it. Such a shame for all of them.
So much credit is due to the nursing staff as well, who have a thankless task and do the best that they can for the patients.
I watched the film twice on the trot, as it made me realize how fortunate I am and to reevaluate all the small things that we take so much for granted, a really well made documentary.
Totally agree, having been wallowing in my own self pity lately about health related issues, this documentary has made me realise how truly fortunate I am ❤
Yes me to. It really tugged at the heart strings. I was born in the mid sixties and Man Alive was popular in the 70s. I had totally forgotten about this programme till now.
May they all rest in peace. They were all comparatively young really.
N
My mum and I both worked at Danesbury Hospital, my mum from 1976-2007 and me before my nurse training. I remember Louie well and Florrie (always my favourite) learnt so much about life working there, it was truly a magical place X
Thank you Jenny for the video upload and for your valuable career in general. It's important to have these films archived to measure, and compare, how we are and interact with each other at different times.
Jenny your work is absolutely amazing. I've been watching one programme after the other. A fascinating part of social history.
Well what a wonderful compliment! Thank you so much and I am delighted you have enjoyed them.
Jenny
Thankyou, have only just fund your channel, very much appreciate your work. 🪶
Thank you for sharing this with the world, I wish more people were watching it!It was light years ahead of it's time. I wonder if such a film could ever be made today. So many comments about the interviewer or the questions asked,I think that he was spot on. And comments blaming the era... people were certainly not more abrupt or less feeling,in fact I think that there is a strong case to argue the opposite. I can assure you that the people concerned would have been having conversations about the consequences of a degenerative illness with their nearest &dearest, doctors, nurses& strangers on the bus! There's very little else on your mind when you are continually monitoring yourself for any sign of progression& being acknowledged by someone honest enough to give you the chance to talk about it is much more likely to be a relief than an insult! Dear Leonard, the dentist,was right when he spoke about keeping up the pretence of being positive &how you can even sometimes fool yourself. Even poor Frida, overwhelmed with the horror of it all couldn't name it. It's other people. After all the soul searching about 'what have I done wrong ' whether you mean that on some sort of 'karmic' level or purely physical (maybe I should have eaten more vegetables!) the one immutable truth is that the happy, healthy people who can't fix it even if they have the will to, can't bear to be around you if you're honest. In order to keep the visitors coming, to be in favour with the nurses you have to show a plucky, cheerful courage. If you run out of steam or are simply tired and overwhelmed it repels them.And that is timeless.
So true you got it in one. This was quite upsetting to watch. I was a teenager in the late 70s but with the passage of time i feel really sad about these documentaries. Maybe if it was in colour instead of black & white and not so drab i would have coped better. It got down to the bare bones and was very gritty and true to life. Nobody was pretending it was easy. It makes you grateful for your life in comparison.
Thank you for sharing your film Jenny. Having watched it I find it hard to express the effect it has had on me. The interview technique was at times quite brutal and I was saddened by the husband's what seemed to me, callous opinion of his poor wife. The images of people before they were struck by disease really brought home the devastating effect it had on their lives. I was born in 1954, left school in 1970. In 1971 I worked in a home for severely handicapped children as a Community Service Volunteer. The home, Trefoil School near Edinburgh, was also a large old house, the children similarly effected by devastating diseases like muscular dystrophy, polio, spina bifida and like the residents in the film, some had visitors, some not. I grew very fond of the children who faced immense challenges very often with enormous courage and often with humour. Your film brought lots of memories flooding back, along with the unique 'flavour' of that decade.
well if she fell down or set fire to the house what are their options.
Hi Jenny! I just found your films, and love them!
wow! this documentary is hard hitting!! people seemed so much harder and colder, how real and aware they all are makes it feel so stark compared to today! I was fascinated to watch this ! thank you for putting this up!
An incredibly painful and brutally honest documentary. I cannot express enough how painful to watch this is, from the brutal questions by the reporter to the sadness of those trapped in deteriorating lives. Nothing is spared. If ever you needed to feel grateful for your life, this work reminds you. I wonder truthfully how far we have come? I fear not very far at all. Too many elderly people are living silent condemned lives and too many suffer the blows of society’s complacency.
A very moving documentary which is still relevant and painfully valuable.
Wouldn’t it be good to make a current documentary on the same subject to see if we have moved on and just where the issues are today by comparison.
I agree totally.
I couldn't watch another one, too painful.
@@helenmcdonnell2585 I know, it hit very hard but as a society we need reminding on a regular basis I suspect.
A great documentary, both sad and inspiring.
Terribly sad. A really valuable social history document of a time well within living memory that seems very distant now. Watching these wonderful documentaries, I'm reminded of that quote from Thackeray used at the end of Barry Lyndon. "Good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now." Hopefully still premature for some of the people in the documentary, but unlikely. Thank you so much for sharing your work, Jenny Barraclough.
Thank you for your generous comments,
Jenny
Very moving…..
That first guy, the husband is a very curious fellow. Openly resentful. She's not even that bad! He's made her feel hopeless and useless because he's a shit. Even the nurse is asking him about her while she's right there. It's like an episode of Human Remains. Might even be an inspiration
I thought the same about the nurse, why didnt she ask the lady the questions. Very rude.
I couldn't imagine being treated like this. I have brain tumors and epilepsy. Even on bad days when I can't talk after a seizure, paramedics and hospital staff always speak to me, they ask me questions and don't make me feel invisible or stupid
This first husband is a charmer
very sad...but real
Hi there - I’m trying to find an episode of Man Alive aired 20 June 1973/12 December 1973 about a boxing coach in Bethnal Green called Billy Howick. Sadly Billy died a few years ago but I’m trying to help his daughter find some footage of him. Can you help at all please? Many thanks
Fascinating doc. It has really made me appreciate how lucky I am. How long did you film for? Thanks for sharing.
I'm glad I watched this. I hope life is, or was kinder to them, especially the quietly desperate Freda Force. Most of all I wish talented Bill Sykes had a better future with his family than the one predicted for him.
So pleased youenjoyed it.
This was a very interesting documentary. There were several times where I felt that the host was being far too judgmental towards the families of the patients but I think he was trying to show the range of emotions that caretakers in this situation have. Something that bothered me afterwards was the fact that the Jewish dentist could still play piano and speak well enough and I'm sure he was able to feed himself. I didn't understand why he had been there for so very long when he was still married and his wife still came to visit him? The man should have been at home and had lost several years unnecessarily by being in that facility
a harsh movie but I like the realism.
Even in black and white. Way to go.
God life is soo cruel
We dont appreciate good health until its gone, losing your health is losing your independence...
I wonder how Bill Sykes's life turned out.
Leslie couldn't get rid of his wife fast enough. Selfish man
The home of the disabled looks so bare and rough, but that's probably more down to the discolouration of the film due to age.
Nah, things were then
It is not colour tv. Many people still had black and white TVs up till 1973 to '75. They were very expensive here in Britain. I think it makes it look more grim and bare than it actually was in my opinion. But that was the stark reality of it and we pretty much saw it all like it was as a few workers back in the day have already commented on. It wasn't all bad and it wasn't all good but the staff did their utmost to make it a pleasant place for the residents to live.
Can’t imagine being stuck there amidst all that cigarette smoke.
Pathetic comment
Is that your takeaway from this, unbelievable.. they have worse problems one would have thought.
I'm sure nobody's ever watched this or it's been a very long time since somebody has watched this on this channel but I'm a little put off by the host of this thing prying into this couples marriage. It's one thing to show how their marriage is suffered because of this but he's interrogating them about the inside of their marriage. It's ridiculous.
Attitudes change over time. There will be things we think are okay today that will seem weird in 30 years' time.
I can assure you that it's nothing to do with the time this film was made. And to assume some sort of offence on behalf of those being interviewed can only be done from a sheltered position of lucky ignorance. Do you really think that the people concerned don't have these conversations continually, between themselves and with their friends and family?? Disability and life shortening illnesses have a way of forcing you to face uncomfortable and unpaletable truths. That doesn't change from one decade to the next, you can paint the walls bright colours and drown the sound of despair by blaring a television all day but if you are losing the ability to feed and toilet yourself nothing changes how grim that is. Thankfully the drugs available for M.S. are so good now that it no longer automatically qualifies as a disability,or even a blue badge! But not all forms fall into this and there are many many other conditions to destroy a life.
Super depressing!
What caused it?
it,,,,,,would,,,,,be,,,,interesting,,,,to,,,know.....how,,,,the,,,,hospital,,home,,,is,,,now,,running,,,,,so,,,so,,,lonely,,,,,it,,,,must,,,,of,,,,,been,,,,,n,,,what,,,,,,,we,,,all,,,,,,take,,,for,,,,granted
Jenny: what about the labradors do you have any work that includes labs or golden retrEVILS?
Very depressing😢
Very poor acting bordering on ridiculous...