• HOME
• THE LANGUAGE OF MADNESS
• THE ASYLUM
• • Asylum Design
  • Patient Buildings
• SOCIETY
• • Urban & Rural Life
  • Class & Gender
  • The Hysterical Female
  • The Evils of "Self-Abuse"
  • Family
  • Visitors
• LEGISLATION
• • Legislative Influence
  • Origins of Legislation and the Criminality of Insanity
  • Teenaged Years: Marked Custody Transition
  • Turn of the Century: Voluntary Admissions
  • Updated Act: The Mental Hospital Act
• SUPERINTENDANTS
• STAFF
• • Working at the LAI
  • Hiring Practices
  • Rules for Employees
  • Employee Roles in Moral Therapy
  • Doctors at LAI
  • Doctor Connections to UWO
  • Training School for Nurses
  • Attendants
  • General Staff
• PATIENT PERSPECTIVES
• • Introduction
  • Patient Art
  • Patient Letters
  • Their Voice
• MEDICAL TREATMENTS
• • Medical Treatment Introduction
  • Use of Restraints
  • Drug and Alcohol
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Female Surgeries
  • Neurosyphilis
  • Shock Therapy
  • Lobotomies
• MORAL THERAPY
• • Moral Therapy Introduction
  • Labour
  • Amusements
  • Diet
  • Religion
• THE WORLD WARS
• • Before the First World War
  • During the First World War
  • After the First World War
  • The First World War and the LAI
  • First World War Veterans at the LAI
  • The Second World War
• MEMORIES OF RMHCL
• • Introduction
  • Their Memories

Field Trips

Amusements  |   Sports  |   Entertainment   |   Field Trips

The London community welcomed patient attendance at local events. The staff of the London Asylum occasionally took patients on field trips to the Western Fair or the circus, as a form of amusement. At the Western Fair, patients participated by having a booth showcasing the produce they had harvested at the Asylum farm which gave them the opportunity to take pride in their work. Patients were also offered tickets to local theatre shows off the asylum grounds. For instance, the London Branch of the Canadian Legion sent tickets to a play for patients to attend in 1931. The staff at the Asylum also brought patients to local theatres in the city of London to watch films. Patients would be taken by charter bus to the theatre every Monday afternoon during the fall and winter months of the 1930s and 40s.

These experiences provided some interaction within the general population and offered the patients a change from the usual asylum atmosphere.