We have looked after these stones for fifty-two years.
We would rather you did.
St. Petra’s has operated without interruption since 1974. We take in stones that nobody has claimed, we record what we know of them, and we place them in homes where somebody will notice they are there.
Placements are made in the order applications are received. When the intake closes it closes, and the register for it is published and never reopened. We ask nothing in return except that you read the booklet before opening the box.
Ask to be told when it opens
We will write to you an hour before the intake opens, so that you are not relying on remembering. We write rarely and about nothing else.
One email before the intake opens, one when it does. Nothing else, and you may leave the list at any time.
Currently in our care
All nine of them. You will not know which one you have been matched with until the box is opened, and we would ask you not to ask.
Gerald
“Extremely still. Has never once caused trouble. Passed over forty-six times.”
Bartholomew
“Refuses to acknowledge his age. We have stopped raising it.”
Constance
“Returned three times. We do not know why. She is perfect.”
Sebastian
“Does not like to discuss it. Please do not ask him about it.”
Lily
“Very beautiful. She is aware of this.”
Maximillian
“Maximillian is a brick. We are aware. We have chosen not to tell him.”
Alexandra
“Has a vision for the Home. Nobody asked her for one.”
Alfred
“Alfred has retained counsel.”
India
“Recovered four feet from where she had last been recorded.”
What arrives
- One resident, in a nest, in a box with air holes
- Certificate of Adoption, embossed and serial numbered
- The resident’s Intake Report
- The Care and Training of Your Resident, ninth edition
- A letter from the Matron
- Geological record
- A rehoming form, should it come to that