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15
Within the Borough boundary over 200 units of accommodation
are provided for elderly people by seven groups of almshouses,
one group was founded as early as 1558 being the first public
charity to be established after the Reformation
Providing for the needs of the Borough residents are some 900
shops, generally of the smaller kind, many being of the oldfashioned
"shop on the corner" type, selling a wide range of
goods Food shops form a large percentage of the total and whilst
meat and poultry come mainly from Smithfield Market in London
and sometimes directly from Kent and Surrey, the vegetables, for
the most part, are supplied either from Greenwich market (which
obtains its produce predominantly from the Kent area) or from
the Covent Garden and Borough markets in London
From its inception as a Borough, Greenwich has always been
in the forefront of progressive health authorities and now within
its area all aspects of health, personal and environmental, are
amply covered These range from the normal maternity, child
welfare and school health services, to the usual general practitioner
and hospital services, and from the useful municipally-run chiro—
pody clinics to the special geriatric, thoracic and neuro-surgical
units based at local hospitals
Virtually first class educational facilities are at the disposal of
residents, encompassing as they do the nursery and handicapped
children's establishments as well as the normal primary, secondary,
grammar and comprehensive schools Abundant opportunities are
also provided for further education whether vocational or cultural
or merely for enabling persons to indulge in a particular hobby
Of the nursery schools, that of Rachel McMillan is internationally
famous for the McMillan sisters were the pioneers of
nursery schools in the British Isles; and in the Roan Schools,
founded in 1643 by John Roan the son of a member of the Royal
household when it was at the Palace of Placentia, Greenwich has
one of the oldest teaching foundations in London
Most educational services are now under the control of the
LCC but there are still some private schools in the area which
are conducted independently of the County Council and which
cater for fee-paying pupils
There are four excellent public libraries, each incorporating
reading rooms for free access to daily newspapers, weekly and
monthly periodicals, which offer a service of Braille and "talking