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of the Committee of the Fund, the Tuberculosis Care Committee and their
friends. The annual Household and Jumble Sale was held in November
and a concert, a dance, a whist drive, and a collection at the Clapton
Stadium (the latter by kind permission of the Management) have taken
place during the year. The Committee of the Poplar Tuberculosis Fund
publishes its own report and balance sheet at the end of the financial year
The Handicraft Class, which provides some occupation for about 16
unemployed patients, continues to meet every Monday morning at the
Dispensary and is much appreciated by the members. The subject
taught now include leather-work, basket-work, pewter-work, bead-work,
glove-making, stool-seating and hand painting, and the standard of the
work is improving. The disposal of the finished articles is always a
difficulty, but a good many of the goods made during the year were sold
at two Exhibitions in which we took part—the Exhibition of Handicrafts
organised by the Standing Conference of Metropolitan Borough Tuberculosis
Care Committees, and held at the Carpenters' Hall in October,
and the Disabled Ex-Servicemen's Exhibition at South Kensington, in
November. The Committee also organised a small Christmas Sale and
Exhibition, which was held at the Dispensary, in December.
The Poplar Tuberculosis Care Committee is represented on the
Standing Conference of Metropolitan Borough Tuberculosis Care Committees,
which has met at the County Hall twice during the year, and
in connection with the Conference, a visit was paid to King George V
Sanatorium, Godalming, in June. Members of the Committee were also
present on the second day of the Conference of the National Association
for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, owing to a special invitation
issued to Care Committees.
The Committee gratefully acknowledges the assistance of all those
who have co-operated in the work of the care of the tuberculosis patient
and his family, particularly that given by the Poplar Branch of the
Invalid Children's Aid Association, whose work in connection with the
visiting, convalescing, and boarding out of children has been most
helpful.
The chief problem confronting the Committee has again been the
finding of employment for patients, the present state of the labour market
making the search for suitable, light work—the great need of the
ex-sanatorium patient—a very thankless task, and the reduced family
income, brought about by unemployment, has made it very difficult for
sufferers from tuberculosis to maintain the desirable standard of living.