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acres intersected by two railways—the three island sites
being connected by long covered bridges, one of which
was, as a last resort, pressed into service to hold 300
beds. The various structures were largely added to
by improvised extensions, colonnaded arcades were filled
in, open bars and switchback railway stations were given
fronts and sides, rifle ranges were floored and repaired,
rooms were built in odd corners, and long corridors
partitioned along their length, and by these means 4,000
beds were put down by the middle of January.
(2) Early in November, 1914, admissions were again
in full swing, and by the end of the year 15,024 persons
had been dealt with. The first six weeks of 1915 proved
exceptionally busy, another 12,000 refugees arriving
during that time. Almost everything else was perforce
put aside at this juncture, to meet the demand for beds,
and the necessity for passing the largest number of
refugees through the camp as quickly as possible, and
apart from feeding, housing and clothing the population,
not much could be attempted. A church was opened,
with daily services, and a large ball-room was converted
into a concert-hall, in which excellent concerts were given
nightly to audiences of over 1,000. The opening of the
submarine campaign in the North Sea led to temporary
cessations of transport more or less coincident with its
severity, and thereafter the demands upon the accommodation
of Earl's Court Camp were never again so
large or urgent.
(3) Already the seeds of much good work on the
social side had been sown in such out-of-the-way corners
as could be spared, and largely by voluntary helpers at
the outset. With the decrease in the population, this
work was developed in all directions, and the camp was
converted from a huge caravanserai to a small Belgian
township with its residential quarters, halls, church,
schools, clubs, hospital, creche, works, shops and offices.
Education was made obligatory for all children between
5 and 14, and optional outside these limits, and a school
staffed by Belgian teachers opened, in which at one time