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18
HEALTH PROPAGANDA.
The borough council held another health week from the 4th to the 10th October inclusive.
Many voluntary organisations offered their help and clergymen in the borough co-operated
by preaching sermons on Sunday, the 4th October, on the subject of health.
Special lectures were arranged at the Latymer Mission, The Quest, The Venture, the Magnet
Girls' Club, St. David's Hostel, St. Mark's Church and the Gospel Mission, Redfield Lane. The
Imperial Institute arranged for film displays to take place twice daily throughout the week. A
health concert was arranged at the Venture on the 10th October ; it was well attended, and the
chief item was a play dealing with the importance of introducing vegetable products in the
daily diet.
From the 6th to the 9th October, a health exhibition was held at the Town Hall. Her Royal
Highness the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, V.A., C.I., G.B.E., intended to open the exhibition
on the first day, but in her absence through illness the ceremony was performed by His
Worship the Mayor.
On the second day the opening ceremony was performed by Councillor the Right Hon. the
Countess of Limerick.
The public health department arranged a stand on which were demonstrated :—
(a) sanitary inspection of premises,
(b) control and prevention of infectious diseases,
(c) model drainage,
(d) methods of disinfection,
(ie) destruction of household pests,
(/) protection of food supply,
(g) model clothing for children from birth to five years of age, and
(h) the work of the dispensary in the prevention of tuberculosis.
The borough engineer also provided an interesting exhibit demonstrating :—
(a) filtration of swimming bath water,
(b) dust removal,
(c) street cleansing, and
(d) road paving, etc.
The maternity and child welfare section, arranged by the voluntary committees of the infant
welfare centres and baby clinic, comprised the following exhibits :—
(a) dental exhibit,
(b) babies of all nations,
(c) baby's bath and bed,
\d) an old and a modern nursery,
(e) an improvised room,
(/) sunlight treatment,
(g) good and bad foods, and
(h) a model day nursery.
Other exhibits were provided by voluntary societies in the borough.
Various bodies and selected firms contributed additional exhibits.
During the exhibition, lectures were given each morning to parties of school children, and
evening entertainments dealing with health subjects were given by the following schools :—
(a) St. Clement's (girls, boys and infants),
(b) Barlby Road (junior school),
(c) Buckingham Terrace (infants), and
(d) Oxford Gardens (girls).
The health exhibition was even more successful than the previous one held in 1928 and it is
estimated that over 20,000 people attended.
COMPETITIONS.
Competitions were arranged in connection with the health exhibition, and during the year
two competitions were held at women's clubs ; these were keenly contested and prizes were
awarded to the successful entrants. They dealt with health subjects.
OTHER HEALTH SERVICES.
There are no fever hospitals within the borough, but several provided by the London
County Council are within easy reach.
The arrangements for the treatment of tuberculosis and the organisation for maternity and
child welfare work are discussed further on in this report.
Kensington enjoys a great advantage in possessing a large number of ladies and gentlemen
who give freely of their time and money to voluntary bodies interested in the health and welfare
of the poorer members of the community. Not only are all the maternity and child welfare institutions
in Kensington organised on a voluntary basis, but there are at work in the borough a
branch of the Charity Organisation Society, a branch of the Invalid Children's Aid Association,
a branch of the British Red Cross Society, the Kensington Council of Social Service, School Care
Committees, a Tuberculosis Care Committee and a number of other bodies managed and financed
on voluntary lines by Kensington residents. The council have endeavoured with marked success
to work in close co.operation with these organisations and the relationship between them has
always been a happy one.