Q. What Is Your Name? A. Adella Laroche.

Q. How Old Are You? A. I am 8.

Q. How Long Were You in The Workhouse? A. I was there for 6 years.

Q. What Did the Workhouse Look Like from The Outside? A. I am not sure what the workhouse looks like from the outside, as the only time I ever saw the proper outside was when I was being brought in. It was extremely difficult to see because it was the middle of the night, and a very cloudy night as well. And when we go outside in the morning to be washed, there is only a small courtyard with cold stone tiles.

Q. What Did It Look Like in The Inside? A. It was exceptionally bright in there, but it also seemed to suck the light away at the same time. The walls were painted pale colours to use the daylight as much as possible, because candles were too expensive. The wooden beams holding the ceiling up sometimes creaked and let dust upon us when people walked on the floor above.

Q. What Happened to You When You First Arrived? A. As of right now I can’t remember very well. I think we were brought in on a cart(that was me and my ma), right up to the doorway about a foot or two away. The matron Mrs Sissons took me by the arm and dragged me outside to a courtyard with a pump. She called another woman to help her, and together they scrubbed and washed till my skin was as pink as a pretty, little flower. After that, they started pullinga combe through my hair, it felt like they were ripping my scalp into pieces. They then forced me into an itchy dress and sent me off to bed.

Q. What Was Washing Like? A. Every morning we would be woken up by an old woman and we would be taken down to the courtyard to be washed. The water coming out of the pump was cold, and by cold I mean FREEZING.Even in the summer it left us all shivering, the women were ruthless with the sponges and combes.

Q. What Work Did You Do? A. Like almost every child in the workhouse I was sent to pick old pieces of rope apart. Picking rope was deadly tiring, and after a few years of doing it you get scars on your fingertips.

Q. What Did You Eat? A. Each week an average boy or girl (including me) would eat little, and this is what we ate. 4pints of gruel, 1 pint of broth, a half loaf of bread, 3 spuds, a bit of rice-pudding, some cheese(a few grams or so). Some sort of mystery meat and half a turnip.