View report page

- 106 -
(a) The West London Angling Competition Committee were granted £5 towards
the cost of their annual outing.
(b) The Women's Voluntary Services Home-from-Home Club were granted
£77 towards the heating of the premises and the services of a part-time
boiler stoker.
(c) The Saint Mary's Priory Over-Sixty Club was granted £50 for the purchase
of tables and dining-chairs.
(d) St. Mary Abbots Club for the disabled £25. 0. 0.
(e) The National Old People's Welfare Council £5. 5. 0.
(f) Chelsea Luncheon Club 650 . 0 . 0.
Detai Is of the various services for the respective categories of blind, handicapped,
and elderly are given below:-
WELFARE OF THE BLIND
The number of persons in the borough newly registered as blind in 1965 was ten
menand thirty-one women, a total of forty-one. The total number of registered blind persons
at the end of the year and ordinarily resident in the borough was 407. There follow three
tables giving analyses of these registrations as follows:-
Table I - showing the total number of blind persons
registered in various age groups.
Table II - showing analysis of the causesof blindness
in newly registered cases.
Table III - (a) and (b) - giving analysis of the total
number of cases indicating the educational,
training and employment positions.
Arrangements were made for six blind persons to receive holidays either in
special Holiday Homes for the Blind or in other holiday accommodation.
A social club for the blind is held each Tuesday afternoon at Gertrude Street
Rehabilitation Centre. A social welfare officer who is a qualified home teacher organises
the club which has seventeen members. Specially designed table game equipment is provided.
Other activities include a Christmas party and an outing.
The number of home visits made to blind persons by the social welfare officers
was 1,164.
Close liaison is maintainedwith voluntary organisations, viz. the Royal National
Institute for the Blind; the Metropolitan Society for the Blind; the London Association for
the Blind; the Southern Regional Association for the Blind; St. Dunstan's; the National
Library for the Blind. Referrals for employment and training are made to the Disablement
Resettlement Officer of the Ministry of Labour with whom consultation is arranged in cases
of special difficulty.
A brief summary of the special facilitiesavailable to all registered blind persons
is given below:-
Free wireless on loan from the Wireless for the Blind Fund
Free wireless licence
Free dog licence (for guide dogs)
Special postal rates - for Braille literature
Free issue of white walking sticks
Loan of special equipment in approved instances, e.g. talking books
Free bus passes for escorts
Free railway fares for escorts for special purposes
Braille literature, e.g., Radio Times, National Braille Mail
Library books in Braille or Moon type
Fireguards on loan
Specially designed aids and gadgets, e.g., writing frames, self-threading needles.