Jane called quietly to me, "John, are you awake for the same reason I am?" "I guess so," I replied. "You'll just have to use your nappies as we can't get out of these cribs. So let's do it together. Ready? One, two , three." With that we both tried to overcome years of potty training and wet our nappies. We found it a struggle to get started, but, once started, the warm fluid flooded between my legs and trickled down around my bottom as the terry towelling slowly absorbed it.

I laid there awake getting used again to the feeling of lying in bed with a warm wet nappy and deciding that it wasn't anything like as bad as I'd expected. One of the night staff came quietly in the room and came over to me. "I see you're awake. Would you like a drink?" She reached under the covers and felt my nappy area. "I'd guess having to wet your nappy woke you up. You can have a drink if you like." I realised I was thirsty and whispered, "Yes please!" She brought me a big glass of water which I drank straight down. She took the glass from me, pulled the covers over me and ruffled my hair kindly, "You'll get used to it while you're here. It does save children falling out of bed at night or wet beds, so I'd guess you'll need to wet again before morning. Don't worry. Your nappies are thick enough! Now, good night and go back to sleep!"

I did just that and woke again a couple of hours later. I realised I was wet and, worried I'd wet the bed, reached down with my hand between my legs. I felt the smooth rubber shell of the pants covering my thick nappies and remembered where I was. With a sigh of contentment, I laid back and let my bladder empty itself again, feeling the warm urine trickle over my tummy and down my sides to be soaked up by the nappy.

The next morning, the oldest children were got up first and, when it came to my turn, I was taken into the bathroom where my all in one top was stripped from me as the nurse undid the back fastening. The nurse was wearing rubber boots and a long rubber apron in white from neck down to just above her ankles. "Now then, John, would you go and stand in the shower for me, please?" I walked to the shower and stood in it. There she firstly pulled off my rubber pants and dropped them in a bin as my very wet terry towelling nappies hung down around my waist,held up by the nappy pins. She undid the pins and then dropped them in another smaller container after closing them up. The nappies dropped around my feet. She squeezed some of the urine out of them and dropped those in a nappy bin. "No wonder you're wet after than drink in the middle of the night!" "How did you know?" I asked curiously. "We always get a report on how you were overnight. Your room was very quiet with no-one homesick! Now then, bend forward and put your hands on your knees with your bottom towards me. I'm going to put some special medicine into your bottom. It may irritate a bit but don't worry. I'll explain in a bit." I did as she said and I felt her rubber gloved finger poke into my bottom. I'd never had anyone do that to me before and it felt really strange. Then her finger was removed and I felt her push something inside me. "No try to grip that tightly for me while I shower and dry you." She turned on the warm water and quickly washed me from head to foot. Taking a huge white fluffy towel, she wrapped me in it and dried me while I stood in the shower. Then she went to sit down and led me with her. She lifted me across her lap and said, "I'm going to take your temperature. We do this every day to make sure you're not poorly." With that, she stuck the thermometer in my bottom and held it there with her rubber gloved hand resting on my buttocks and the thermometer held between her fingers. By now I was really needing the toilet as the suppository inside me had melted and started irritating. After a few minutes, she removed the thermometer, wiped it and checked it. "You're fine! Now, sit on that potty and empty your bowels for me. The medicine I put in you is called a suppository and is to make you go to the toilet for me. I need to check that you don't have any worms inside you. We only do this the first morning, so don't worry!"

I hurriedly sat on the blue enamelled potty which she placed beside her and I sat there in from of her while my bowels emptied. When I told her I'd finished, she got me to stand up and washed my bottom clean and dried it, then looked in the potty. "You're fine! No worms there." Then she helped me get dressed in my new summer gear.

After we'd all been purged, washed and dressed, we had a huge cooked breakfast and then we were all given a shilling each spending money. It was a fortune to me! I held it tightly and wondered what i could buy with that! We were told we would go to the beach that morning and could buy an ice cream and perhaps a postcard to send to our families to tell them that we were fine.

We were playing in the home's large garden when I saw this black haired kid come up to my sister. I saw her shaking her head violently and rushed over to see what was going on. "What's the matter, Jane?" "He wants me to give him my shilling or he'll beat me up!" I turned to the lad, about my size. "If you dare touch my sister, I thump you so hard you'll wish you hadn't and then I'll report you to the home staff. Understand?" He turned and ran off, calling to me, “I'll fix you later for this!”. "Thank you, John!" "No problems, sis!" I replied.

We had a great time on the beach and duly bought ourselves an ice cream and postcards to send home. Back at the home, those who had bought postcards were encouraged to sit down to write them whilst the others went to play in the garden while we waited for lunch. After lunch, we were told to play in the garden for a few minutes while the staff cleared lunch away, then we'd all be going to the local recreation ground to play there.

I was on the climbing frame with my legs entwined in the metal tubing so I could stand up and see past the home to the sea and the boats in the distance. Suddenly the black haired kid climbed up and pushed me backwards. I wasn't expecting that and fell back but there were horrible snapping noises from my thighs as I fell back. My sister saw this and screamed. The staff came running and she told them that the kid had pushed me on purpose. One of the staff took him inside while the others carefully lifted me out of the frame. My legs were bent in funny places and hurt like blazes. I was carried inside and one of the nurses phoned for an ambulance. The nurse who looked after my group and Jane went with me in the ambulance. I was crying by now as the pain in my legs was so bad. The man in the ambulance gave me a black rubber mask to put over my nose and mouth and told me to take deep breaths and the sweet smelling gas helped.

At Skegness hospital, I was rushed in to the casualty department and X-rayed. Both of my thighs had broken. The doctor came to tell us the news and that I'd have to be taken to theatre to have the bones set. He asked the nurse who brought us how long it was since I'd had anything to eat or drink and she told him. “Oh dear, young man. We'll have to wait a while before we can take you to theatre to sort you out. I'll arrange for one of our nurses to give you an injection to help with the pain and then you will go up to the children's orthopaedic ward where you'll be got ready for your operation. Have you had an operation before?” I mumbled a reply that, yes, I'd had my adenoids out a couple of years earlier.

A nurse came and gave me an injection in the side of my bottom. I don't know what it was, but in a few minutes my head was spinning and I didn't hurt quite as much. I was wheeled up to the ward on a trolley and the curtains pulled around the trolley and my bed. The nurse form the home came inside the curtains to help but my sister had to wait outside while they stripped me naked and lifted me gently onto the bed. One of the hospital nurses picked up what I first thought were white fluffy towels and then I realised that they were nappies as she folded them and I was gently lifted up and placed on them. A pair of red rubber hospital pants with a drop front were slid under the nappies and the rubber pants tied around my thighs and waist. “You'll be here for some weeks,I'm afraid, John, while your leg bones heal and you'll be kept in nappies while you're here. Don't worry about that, though, all the children on this ward wear nappies no matter how old they are. It's how we nurse children on this ward.”

I laid back on the bed and Jane came in, sat down beside me and held my hand. She was crying and apologised for causing this. The nurse from the home was listening and asked Jane and I what had happened. She told Jane not to blame herself as I had done the right thing to stop the money from being stolen from her and that the boy would be sent straight back to Nottingham for what he'd done. The staff had had two complaints already that he'd taken things from other children and had already decided that he had to go before this happened.

A man came with a chromium trolley with a red rubber mattress to take me to theatre to have my legs set. The nurse told Jane that she would be brought back tomorrow to see me. As I was wheeled away, I suddenly felt that I needed to 'spend a penny' and, remembering I was in nappies, just let it out into the warm fluffy towelling surrounding my hips.