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31
£
The Belling ham Community Association Darby
and Joan Club 36
Lee Branch of the National Federation of Old Age
Pensions Associations 35
Good Companions Club 18
St. Hilda's Seniors' Club 50
Blackheath Branch of the National Federation
of Old Age Pensions Associations 15
September Club 12
Happy Old Folks' Club (St. Barnabas) 20
This left a sum of money available for new clubs which might
qualify for grant.
It is hoped that such old people's organisations as can will not
only provide the usual afternoon's recreation with a little tea, but will
also make arrangements to provide lunch either on the day the club meets
or another day. To this end the Lewisham Old People's Welfare
Association is prepared to co-operate by conveying the meals in bulk
from the central kitchen, where they are obtained, to the luncheon club.
It has also been suggested to the clubs which do not already do it,
that they might consider setting up handicraft classes for their members,
this being thought to be a preferable alternative to the so-called
" workshops for the elderly " which have been set up in a few inner
London boroughs. There are many difficulties with regard to starting
such workshops in an outer London dormitory borough such as this,
but these difficulties would not apply to handicraft classes and if the
work turned out at such classes were good enough it would have a
saleable value of its own. Unfortunately most of the clubs found it
impracticable to get sufficient of their members interested in the scheme
to allow a qualified teacher to be obtained for them, but one or two clubs
are still making efforts in this direction.
With regard to nutrients, a wellknown preparation which contains
many of the factors of the vitamin B complex, and which is held to be
particularly useful in the dietary of old people, has for some years been
sold at the clubs and in this way some reduction in price can be obtained.
A little time ago the makers felt they had to increase the retail price further
and even this small increase had the effect of reducing quite significantly
the amount of the nutrient sold. Consequently a scheme was devised,
and authorised by the committee, under which if a return were made
every six months by the club giving the number of jars of the nutrient
sold and also stating that not more than one 4-oz. jar had been sold to
any one club member during a four-weekly period, then an additional
grant would be paid to that club equivalent to 3d. per jar. This seems
to have had the effect of stimulating sales to some degree although it
is too early yet to say how successful the scheme will be.