Pat Entwistle MBE

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“They didn’t know what to do with me at all. I’m talking about, 1942, ’43. There was 250 children, and I was the only disabled child there. I used to try and walk, and the other kids used to push me over.”
Pat Entwistle MBE, transport campaigner and author

Born 6 October 1940
Educated Bleasdale House, Silverdale; Singleton Hall, near Blackpool; Queen Elizabeth Training College, Leatherhead

Died 20 March 2007

Pat Entwistle Tape 1 - Listen now
born Colne, near Burnley, Lancashire, 6 October 1940, christened Pat Michael Entwistle, 13th child, of 14 children. Mother had insulin-dependant diabetes (insulin twice daily, frequent comas) and was in coma when Pat was born... 00:31:26

Pat Entwistle Tape 2 - Listen now
installation of central heating and lift at Bleasdale House. Teachers and carers. School photo. Eat, slept and played in one dormitory room. Staff. Fights. Most pupils from Singleton Hall went on to Special Training Colleges... 00:31:21

Pat Entwistle Tape 3 - Listen now
1980s video, ‘The Land of the Droog’. Questions asked by children. Pat was keen to encourage the girls to be immunised against Rubella. Difficulties in Catholic-run schools. Pat was chairman of the Greater Manchester Alpha... 00:30:47

Pat Entwistle Tape 4 - Listen now
Ruth was Pat and Joan’s only child. Ruth married at 19 and had Hayley, now 16, followed by Matthew, now 12. “No such word as can’t.” Attitude of Ruth’s fellow pupils to her parents’ disability. Teacher’s comment “You’re writing... 00:30:55

Pat Entwistle Tape 5 - Listen now
Ashton-under-Lyne town hall lift – access problems. Aging and disability. Catheter and prostate problems. Visit to A&E unit of local hospital. Attitude of doctor. In 1974, Pat was voted onto the Community Health Council... 00:31:22

Pat Entwistle Tape 6 - Listen now
learning to swim. Visiting historic buildings. Working voluntarily. Using a computer. Collection of 800 postcards. Greater Manchester Cerebral Palsy Society has four caravans at Robin Hood Bay. Campsite owner refused to adapt... 00:11:20

Pat Entwistle Tape 7 - Listen now:
first contact with other disabled people in the late 1940s at Bleasdale House, Silverdale, a school for 24 multiply-disabled boys. Pat went to a secondary school, Singleton Hall, just outside Blackpool - opened in 1952... 00:31:21

Pat Entwistle Tape 8 - Listen now:
ward sister’s ignorance of cerebral palsy. Bath adaptation. Problems with hips. Home care twice a week. Without a steering wheel knob Pat could not drive a car. Writing autobiography with PC, loaned by Regional Committee of... 00:24:22

Download a transcript of Pat Entwistle (PDF, 390kb)