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84
Training Centres
Difficulty was experienced during the year at Wandsworth and
Newlands Training Centres when staff left to take up work outside
London, to go to training courses or for other private reasons.
It was some time before suitable new staff could be recruited, but
by the end of the year the problem of staffing was being partly
solved not only with the replacement of the staff who had left, but
also by an increase of staff which will enable the work of the training
centres to improve and expand. The increase in the ratio of staff
to trainees will mean smaller classes and an improvement in the
quality of the teaching and training. Staff will be able to experiment
with new teaching methods and to carry out many of the
ideas that have had to be shelved in the past owing to staff
shortages.
Balham Training Centre now has some excellent kitchen equipment
and the trainees there are doing some very expert cookery.
A washing machine has been delivered and will be installed in a
newly-formed laundry.
The Wandsworth Society for Mentally Handicapped Children
very kindly hired a television set for use at Newlands Training
Centre to assess the value of television as a teaching aid for the
mentally subnormal and the suitability of the educational programmes.
This has proved very successful and our thanks and
appreciation are due to the Society for their interest in this work
and for their generosity in enabling the experiment to be undertaken.
The occupational therapist has made very useful contacts with
some manufacturers who are giving industrial outwork to the
centres. By this means the trainees are able to do a useful piece
of work for which they are paid, albeit a small sum. helping them
to feel that they are useful members of the community, and
giving them a feeling of independence is itself a useful therapeutic
measure.
Special care units
A mini-bus which can accommodate 10 children was acquired
during the year and has proved of immense value in the problem
of transporting the young subnormal and often helpless children
to the special care units. The mini-bus has been specially adapted
for the conveyance of these children and is fitted with special
seating, safety belts, etc. Regular use was made during the year
of the special care units at Queen Mary's Hospital for Children,
Carshalton, and at Morden and I am very grateful both to the
Hospital Authorities and the Medical Officer of Health of the
London Borough of Merton for making these facilities available
and enabling us to provide a very valuable extension of our
service.