I was made to feel different. I never really knew who I was.I was nobody's child but I got on with life; CHILDREN who were brought up in care between the 1940s and 1970s are to come together at a reunion in Newcastle this year. In a two-part special LIZ LAMB talks to four Tyneside friends about their experiences

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Feb 29, 2008

Byline: LIZ LAMB

SHE was just three when she was taken from her bed and put into care. For Meg Colpitts, going into St Joseph's Home, in County Durham, has affected her entire life.

The strange house run by nuns became her home and the other children who lived there her family.

"It was an awful feeling leaving the security of my home and I was very afraid," recalls Meg, whose maiden name is Murray, of Spital Tongues.

It was December 1, 1941, when the frightened child was taken in the night from the home she shared in Shieldfield, Newcastle, with her older sister Shirley and brother Joe.

Her mother was accused of neglect after leaving the children in the care of a 13-year-old babysitter, leaving the children alone while she went to visit her boyfriend.

A worried neighbour called the police and Meg, now a grandmother of nine, was taken to the children's home. Her brother Joe was taken to St Mary's Boys Home in Tudhoe, County Durham.

"I have never really been told the full story of what happened that night," says the mum-of-five.

"I never saw my mother again until I was 11.1 remember when I did see her, she came into the room, this beautiful woman, and I remember her smelling of perfume.

'To this day I'm allergic to it. I can't stand perfume. I don't know whether that's psychological. My parents never wrote to me when I was in the home."

The 66-year-old, who is in remission from cancer, remembers having a happy childhood in the home and being educated at a nearby school. The nuns were kind to her as was Father Gaughan, who visited the church chapel.

Fr Gaughan was an administrator to the Hexham and Newcastle Diocesan Rescue Society responsible for adoption, moral welfare and the prevention of family breakdown.

She says: "While I was in the home the nuns were strict but did not abuse me. I loved them. Father Gaughan waslikeafatherfigure. I looked on the other girls as sisters as we were brought up together.

"I remember we had to do the housework. We used to put rags on our feet to polish the floors and skate down the corridors. It was wonderful."

When she was 12, Meg left the home in July, 1953, and was given a necklace of rosary beads as a gift which she still holds dear today. She went to live with her father and stepmother in Parsons Avenue, Walker, and attended Walker RC school.

"I remember one teacher saying to me 'if you don't behave we will send you back to that children's home where you belong'.

"I will never forget that. You were made to feel being in a children's home was wrong. I was made to feel different. I never really knew who I was. I was nobody's child but I got on with life."

Meg, who founded the JustKids charity, believes growing up without a father and having no other males around affected her later in life.

"I felt so unloved and unwanted. It's no wonder I have had three husbands," she says.

"I have been searching for something my whole life. I am now engaged to Colin, who I have been with for 18 years."

The children's campaigner obtained her childhood records from Catholic Care, in Westgate Road,

Newcastle, and the file of her life contained just three sentences. She often returns to the site of the children's home which was demolished in 1972.

She says: "I just feel the need to go, it gives me great comfort. I guess I am looking for my lost family."

SYLVIA RAYNER NEE FAICHEN MOTHER-of-four Sylvia Rayner had an unhappy childhood that she can only describe as a 'nightmare'.

Born to an alcoholic mother, Sylvia, her sister and three brothers were taken from St Michael's School, in Newcastle, put in a car and taken into care.

Two-year-old Sylvia and her three-year-old sister Cordelia were separated from their brothers. The girls went to St Joseph's and the boys to St Mary's in Tudhoe .

"I was too young to understand what was happening," says Sylvia, of Benwell, whose maiden name is Faichen.

Sylvia can't remember much about her life in the home but she was happy there.

The hotel room attendant, who had lived at the family home in Park Road, Cruddas Park, says: "I know we were all looked after by nuns.

"Living there was not too bad at all.

"Every morning we would have to queue up to have a spoonful of castor oil.

"Hair cut day was a bowl around our heads.

"I can't really remember much. Half of my childhood is gone."

After obtaining her records from Catholic Care last year, the grandmother-of-two discovered during her time there she spent a year in hospital suffering from rheumatic fever.

Her file also contained a childhood picture of Sylvia and her sister and a photograph of her taken at the home.

Sadly, these have been lost, along with the only letter her parents ever wrote to her during her seven-year stay in care.

She says: "The letter said 'hello, we hope you received this card. We have never heard from you'.

"I thought to myself, well we didn't know who you were. It was just a nightmare.

"One year all I got for Christmas was an orange. That's all my mother sent me. I never had any- thing else." While at the home the 52-year-old and her sister were fostered to a family in Stockton-on-Tees who later made moves to adopt them, but then her mother decided she wanted them back.