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school for children requiring a holiday on medical grounds. At the King's Canadian
School, Bushy Park, the period of stay is also four weeks. There is no reason why
a distinction should be made between the length of stay for boys and girls, but it
could hardly be recommended that it should at once be raised to six weeks at this
school, inasmuch as thereby some 1,200 boys annually would be deprived of the opportunity
of obtaining a needful holiday. It must be pointed out, however, that although
Bushy is very popular in the summer, and little difficulty is experienced in keeping
the accommodation used to its fullest extent at that period of the year, it is very
difficult in winter. A majority of parents object to their boys going away in the
winter months, and during this time a very great strain is placed upon the medical
and organising staffs in preparing sufficient boys to utilise the accommodation to its
full extent, owing to the fact that a very much larger number of boys needs to be
examined and followed up than eventually is prepared to go.
During the winter months the absence or short duration of sunlight, and the
long evenings curtailing the period of the day which can be spent in open air
conditions also make the month's stay much less valuable in a curative sense than
the corresponding length of time in the summer. It was therefore suggested to the
Council that during the five months from 1st November to 31st March, the length
of stay at the King's Canadian camp school should be extended to six weeks, and
during the period from 1st April to 31st October it should remain as at present,
viz., one month, and this suggestion has now been adopted.
The following reports for the year on Wanstead House, Barham House and The
King's Canadian school, Bushy, have been contributed by the local officers in the
case of Wanstead House and Bushy, and by Dr. F. C. Lewis in the case of Barham
House. The report on the Bushy Park school deals with the results of special
physical exercises which form a feature of the regime.
Dr.
MeCombe's
report on
Wanstead
House.
"It is a pleasure to be able to report a comparatively clean bill of health—
especially as there have been epidemics in the locality.
"Out of 534 children who have attended during the year, 1926, only 17 have been
confined to bed by illness. Of this 17, only one child was in bed for longer than four
days—the majority of cases being mild tonsilitis. The other case was a girl who
developed chicken-pox two days after arrival, but precautionary measures were
immediately taken, and there was no further outbreak.
"One child returned to London suffering from impetigo on the scalp which was
noted a day or two after arrival, and, in spite of very careful nursing and supervision,
persisted during her stay.
"The average gain in weight for the year was 2.3 kgs.=5 lbs. (during a 6 weeks'
stay). The highest individual gain=7.4 kgs."
Dr. Lewis's
report on
Barham
House.
"I have to report that during the year a total of 638 children were admitted
to the camp school in parties of 64 at a time. Each party stayed approximately
four weeks. Of these, 442 came from Shoreditch schools, the remaining 256 children
coming from the eastern and north-west divisions. Hamond Square, the school which
originally had the prior claim on Barham House, at the request of the donor (Mr. G.
Rainey), contributed a batch of 64 girls in April and 64 boys in August. This
latter was the only batch of boys using the school.
"The general condition of the children on return was markedly improved,
especially during the spring and summer months. Regular food, regular supervision
of personal hygiene, and the change from the homes of Shoreditch in most cases
brought about a real gain in weight as well as an improvement in general health.
The popularity of the camp school is shewn by the number of children who come
forward clamorous for a second visit.
"As the result of the parties being largely girls, the difficulties of enuresis have
declined, and no case was sent home on that account. But with personal hygiene
the difficulties have increased, and, in spite of all precautions, three or four dirty