View report page

68
The Home Help scheme which was very comprehensive and well
organised prior to the transfer in July 1948 was continued under the
local direction of the existing organiser. Close liaison was maintained
with hospital almoners, family welfare and old people's association and
the District Nursing Association. This of course was an essential factor
in a successful home help scheme.
Day nurseries which had sprung up through the war under the
control of the Borough Council were also transfered to the London
County Council in 1948, and these continued to have a considerable
waiting list.
The period of transition was difficult, technically, but went off
smoothly as all concerned co-operated to the fullest extent ensuring
that this should be so.
In 1949 male home helps were introduced mainly in the houses of
aged males, and in this connection it can be said that at this time more
than half of the work of home helps was in connection with the aged.
By 1956 the findings of an investigation into attendances at child
welfare clinics in the division were published and ways were suggested
in which improvements could be carried out. A large majority of mothers
favoured attendances at clinics because they provided a means of
obtaining expert advice, checking progress and relieving anxiety. As
the size of families increased, the mothers found difficulty in attending,
and may have felt that the knowledge gained with the first child at the
clinic equipped them to deal adequately with those that followed.
It was found that the ability to purchase welfare foods (including
Ministry of Food preparations) was not as significent a reason for
attendance as was suggested by investigations elsewhere. Criticisms
of the service were few and those relating to staff and premises were
investigated. The demand for child welfare clinics continued but their
value was insufficiently appreciated and the atmosphere of the centre, if it
had not changed with the times, may have been largely to blame for
this.
In May 1957 an Open Day was held at the Central Lewisham
Welfare centre, 410 Lewisham High Street, to commemorate the
21st Anniversary of the opening of the centre by H.R.H. the Duchess
of Kent on 7 May 1936. Special tributes were paid to the Catford School
for Mothers who had started child welfare activities 37 years ago and
had worked at the centre since it opened for voluntary work done.
By 1958 the Maternity and Child Welfare services of the borough had
been under the control of the London County Council, administered
from the divisional offices at Camberwell for ten years, Dr. Mower
White, the divisional M.O. in a review of these ten years, said of the
whole division (Camberwell and Lewisham combined)
"During the period, 12 new welfare centres have been opened,
in rented or adapted premises, to serve new areas or to replace unsatisfactory
accommodation often in church halls. Seven new school treatment
centres have been started. Of the ten voluntary committees who
ran centres in 1948, seven still continue. The number of day nurseries
has fallen from eight (with 439 places) to six (with 294 places, and the
average daily attendance from over 350 to 225. Associated with this