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70
"It must not be assumed that more than a very small proportion of
old people require help. The vast majority of them would in fact spurn
it, as they like to feel independent, but as old age increases so frailty
and illness increases and as a result an enlarging proportion of old
people require some sort of help according to the age they have reached.
Further, the proportion of old people who work after they become of
pensionable age varies according to particular circumstances. At the
moment, when increased production is required, there is a considerable
propaganda movement to keep old people in industry. I am quite sure,
however, that should there be anything corresponding to the slump
which occurred between the wars the propaganda would be reversed and
old people would be unemployed when they reached pensionable age.
There are two other general considerations: with the smaller families
which have become increasingly common in the last half-century there
are less grown-up children to look after the old person and therefore
the chances of the old person being left on his own are considerably
increased. Secondly, even though the proportion of old people who
require help may be small, or very small (and no-one knows at the
moment what it really is), when we are dealing with a matter of thirty
to fifty thousand old people even a "very small" proportion might
well mean some thousands."
"Help to old people can be of various kinds, some of which is
obtainable through voluntary agencies and some of which can be given
by the local authority, whether it be the local health authority (i.e., the
L.C.C.) or the local sanitary authority (i.e., the borough council).
There are at least 20 local agencies (possibly many more) who are interested
in the care of old people, and in 1947 the Lewisham Old People's
Welfare Council was formed, and included representatives of most of
these agencies. This Council, in spite of many difficulties, financial and
otherwise, has made a start in the care of old people and by the end of
1948 it had organised a small "Meals on Wheels" service. There are,
however, many other ways in which the Old People's Council and other
local agencies can help old people. As far as the health department is
concerned, such help might be of great benefit in postponing for a
considerable time, if not indefinitely, the date when an old person
becomes a burden on his or her friends, relatives or neighbours, and
may, as a result, require admission to hospital or a home."
Old people's services were reorganised in 1949 as the following
extract from the Annual Report of that year shows.
"At the end of the year the Lewisham Old People's Welfare Council
decided to change its name to the Lewisham Old People's Welfare
Association. The Lewisham Old People's Welfare Association is
regarded by the Council as its main link with the voluntary work in the
borough for the care of old people. The borough makes grants to all
other approved organisations who are prepared to agree to the provisos
set out above and therefore it has a direct link with those organisations,
but it would clearly be an administrative difficulty to remain in close
touch with them individually, particularly as it is hoped that they will
multiply in the years to come, and therefore although it makes a direct
grant its chief connection with them is through their being affiliated
to the Lewisham Old People's Welfare Association. On that association