Bill Hall

“And the bus came and picked me up. I’ll never forget that day. Some things stand out in your memory. In my mother’s arms, at the corner of Morgan Street: they put me into the bus… We had canvas windows [laughs] and a wooden seat up either side..." Bill Hall

Born 17 June 1936

Education Hamilton special school; Ochenrae school; government training college in Egham in Surrey

Bill Hall Tape 1 Listen here:
Born 1936 eldest of six in a working-class family. Father ill. Dr Douglas said that Bill would be a vegetable and would not reach his teens. Rejection by Father. Brothers and sisters - Jim, lost one, a brother when Bill ... 00:31:21

Bill Hall Tape 2 Listen here:
No summary; a loud alarm sounds a few minutes into the recording 00:11:35

Bill Hall Tape 3 Listen here:
Born in Hamilton, in 1936, in Scotland, now living in Corby, and now using a wheelchair for mobility. Bill was his parents' first child. His father had difficulty accepting his disability... 00:31:22

Bill Hall Tape 4 Listen here:
New school Ochenrae. Nurse McFarlaine. Bus run by Lanarkshire County Council. Aged 12 BH went into the Stonehouse hospital in Lanarkshire in 1948 for first operation to lengthen tendons ... 00:30:14

Bill Hall Tape 5 Listen here:
1952-3. Father discharged on medical grounds from army. Air raid shelter. Moved from Morgan Street in 1943-44 to a new house in Kerr Crescent, Fairhill in Hamilton. Brother 'Tommy Tucker' ... 00:31:20

Bill Hall Tape 6 Listen here:
Parents' reaction to marriage. Mother had TB [tuberculosis]. Michael Murphy who had cerebral palsy and his wife had polio too. Having children. Press coverage. Invertrike ... 00:28:46

Bill Hall Tape 7 Listen here:
Move to Corby in 1971 after break-up of marriage. 400 mile journey on an Invertrike, a three-wheeler type, two-stroke engine. Family reunited in 1972. Stonehouse day centre. Phab ... 00:31:15

Bill Hall Tape 8 Listen here:
Meeting of The Spastics Society. Work of DIAL [Disability Information and Advice Line]. Disability Discrimination Act. Plan M, [Part M] Building Regulations. Adult education 1983 ... 00:29:24

Bill Hall Tape 9 Listen here:
moved back to Scotland. Travelling in a Nippy. Drove three-wheeled Invertrike from Inverness to Corby in 1978 on the motorway. Attitudes to disabled people in Scotland and England ... 00:30:36

Download the transcript of the Bill Hall interview (PDF, 509kb)