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183
a Lunch Club which will not only provide a hot midday meal
but also opportunities for companionship and social contacts.
By the end of the current year Lunch Clubs were providing
1,220 persons daily with a meal at a yearly rate of 310,000, an
increase of 18% over the figure for 1970.
A number of elderly homebound persons are conveyed to Lunch
Clubs on days when an established Old People's Club meets on
the premises during the afternoon. Thus they can enjoy a hot lunch
and then stay to enjoy the social activities in the afternoon.
Since the introduction of the Social Services Act, responsibility
for providing these facilities has passed to the Directorate of
Social Services.
Nutritional Supplements
A scheme is in operation throughout the Borough for the sale
to bona fide retirement pensioners, at preferential rates, of various
nutritional commodities.
Distribution is effected mainly via Old People's Clubs, which
make regular purchases of foods such as Ovaltine, Marmite,
Horlicks, Bovril, Ribena, Complan and Supro for resale to their
members at a discount price. Sales are also made from the
W.R.V.S. Offices at Woolwich, Citizens' Advice Bureau at
Eltham, the Burney Street Welfare Centre at Greenwich and
certain Lunch Clubs.
Supplies are restricted to persons of pensionable age and only
in sufficient quantities considered reasonable for that person's own
consumption. For this purpose, the old person is issued with a
Registration Card. Relatives and friends may purchase supplies
on behalf of a homebound elderly person on production of this
Registration Card.
During the year, sales of Nutritional Supplements to retirement
pensioners were averaging £19,000 per annum.
Housing
Because of the importance of housing circumstances in the lives
of our aged residents, regular consultation takes place between
the Public Health Officers and representatives of the Housing
Departments of this and the Greater London Councils. Furthermore,
active participation in the selection of elderly persons for
residence in local almshouses and Housing Society properties is
also undertaken by the department's officers.