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23
A new project was started during the Christmas holidays,
This takes the form of a holiday Youth Club for handicapped
children between 7 and 16 years of age who can avail themselves of
the equipment and facilities of the classrooms during the school
holidays and, incidentally, provide welcome relief to their parents,
About thirty children attend, the majority being former patients of
the Centre, With the exception of a paid organiser, this project
functions entirely with voluntary help and has already proved a great
success,
Not only does the Centre fulfil an important role in caring for
spastic children but it has achieved wide renown for its knowledge
and experience in this field, Its postgraduate courses for
therapists attracts participants from many countries, large numbers of
doctors have attended medical courses, visitors come from far and
wide, and there is a constant demand for information and for the loan
of library material and films which have been made at the centre,
WELFARE OF OLD PEOPLE
The investigation of the circumstances and living conditions of
each old person was undertaken by the Council's Social Worker and, in
this connection, 1,467 re-visits were made to the 1,200 old people on
the register and 188 new cases came to the notice of the department,
Additional visiting by the British Red Cross Society, the
Women's Voluntary Services, and the St, John Ambulance Brigade in
connection with the delivery of meals, recreation and personal
cleansing was of great value and provided a constant liaison with the
Public Health Department,
Grant
The Borough Council made a grant of £2,500 per annum to the
Old People's Welfare Committee,
Meals on Wheels
This service has been efficiently administered by the Women's
Voluntary Services and distributed by the voluntary organisations
on five days a week, It not only ensured that housebound old people
aire certain of one meal a day, but provided a valuable link with all
services available,
Number of meals issued during the year 14,082
Average weekly supply 271
Average number of old people supplied 66
To cover the weekend, voluntary helpers took homemade soup to
old people just discharged from hospital or who were too ill to eat
solid food,