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46
I am indebted to the Chairman and Members of the Executive Committee of
the Lambeth Old People's Welfare Association for allowing me to include the
following report on the activities of the Association.
It should be noted that the Association's year covers the period from 1st
April 1963 to 31st March 1964 and therefore does not co-incide strictly with
the period covered by my Annual Report.
REPORT
During the year, many changes have taken place in the Association. First
and foremost was the resignation of Miss Roith, who had been Secretary to the
Association since 2nd January, 1961 and it was with regret that the Committee
accepted the termination of her services on the 13th September, 1963. Miss
Doris M. Beer, who had been Secretary to the Southwark Old People's Welfare
Committee for six years was appointed in September and took up her duties on
the 4th November.
The expansion of services which was the main concern of the new Executive
Committee at its first meeting in July, 1962, has now taken place. The
Deputy Organising Secretary who is a trained and experienced Social Worker,
commenced her duties on the 1st April, 1963 and one of her tasks is the oversight
of all the case work done in the Borough. There are now six Welfare
Visitors, one of whom is a man. The Borough has been divided into five
districts, and each of the women Welfare Visitors is responsible for a district.
It was felt by the Association that one of the Visitors should be a man as
there are many instances when a man's help is needed, and for this reason, he
was not given a particular district but is called in on any occasion to all parts
of the Borough.
General Welfare Work
Much constructive and re-habilitative work among the aged of the Borough
has been made possible with the introduction of the six Welfare Visitors.
10,874 new contacts have been made with old people already known to the
Association, and 1,886 new people became known and most of these presented a
problem of some sort. Many were of temporary nature, and after a little help
and understanding, the old people settled down again with just an occasional
friendly visit to ensure that everything was alright, but in many other cases a
of time and hard work has been needed to straighten out a difficult situation
Applications come from varied sources and all day long the telephone is ringing
with calls for help.
Some of the requests for assistance relate to decorating and the Association
is very grateful for the really practical help given in this direction by the
members of the Lambeth and Camberwell group of the International Voluntary
Service. One one occasion, the Croydon group of the I.V.S. also assisted with
decorating. In all these cases, the old people concerned have very much,
appreciated, not only the help with the actual decorating, but the interest shown
by the members of the I.V.S.