Life in Redgrave Orphanage for Girls

I lived in Redgrave between the ages of 5-18.
 
Girls younger than 5 start life with a foster mother. I just missed that cap.
 
When I was taken there I was washed, dressed in the uniform and had my hair cut short. I do not suit short hair. They took my only possessions - the clothes I was wearing and my mother's necklace with the Dumont family symbol on the family stone (a rue flower on a piece of Amazonite). I did not think I would ever get these back, but when I left my possessions were returned to me.
 
Redgrave calls itself an orphanage, although I would liken it more closely to a boarding school.
 
We slept in dormitories. Redgrave had two - one for ages 5-13 and the other for ages 13-18.
 
In total there were around 100 girls. Redgrave catered to Ravenspeak and the villages around it.
 
Our days were thoroughly regimented. Awaken, clean, breakfast (if you were good), school, chores, dinner (if you were good), recreation, rollcall, bed. This is what we did five days a week.
 
One day a week school was replaced with recreation, although church was mandatory for the first hour.
 
We were all expected to wear uniforms until after dinner when we were allowed to change into common clothes. The issue with this, of course, is that basically no one had access to common clothes.
 
Despite the tight regime we were surprisingly free to do whatever we wanted during our recreation time.
 
Redgrave was a cold building built of ugly red bricks in the middle of a city. It had a small lawn, with a single tree with a swing on it. There was also a playroom, but time in there had to be earned. Once you reached 13 you were allowed to spend your recreational time in the city.
 
As children we had no access to money at all. Some of the older girls would get small jobs while allowed out in town. One in particular took pity on me and gifted me a small rag doll which I named Bella.
 
Redgrave was run by Matron Winterson. I knew from day 1 she was a witch. It always seemed to me that she knew the Dumont name and held a special place of hatred in her heart for me. That woman should never have been around children.
 
The rules were strict and the punishments harsh.
 
Rewards were few, and getting another child caught seemed to be the only way to get them. Winterson really understood how to pit girls against each other.
 
Growing up in a place like Redgrave does not prepare you for the real world. You grow up with no understanding of independence. Transition out of a place like that can be hard.
 
I left Redgrave on my 18th birthday and have not been back since.