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realised that the proper course was to found a separate housing society for the purpose. This was
done in August, 1949, under the name of "St. Marylebone Old People's Homes, Limited." This new
body is an independent organisation, responsible for its own policy and finance; but the Association
is strongly represented on its Committee and the two bodies have for the moment the same Chairman
and Secretary. With the help of a loan from the London County Council, the Home Committee
have raised enough money to buy two houses in Greville Place. A Christmas appeal launched at the
public meeting arranged by the Association brought in £1,000. Plans for the necessary alterations to
the houses and for raising the further money required to complete the scheme are in hand.
The three "Darby and Joan" Clubs of the Women's Voluntary Services still flourish, and three new
clubs have come into existence. One was organised by the Women's Committee of the Liberal Jewish
Synagogue, St. John's Wood Road, another by the Inner Wheel of the St. Marylebone Rotary Club,
and the third, for deaf old people, by a member of the League for the Hard of Hearing. All six arranged
summer outings and Christmas parties, and hold weekly meetings with an average attendance of 50.
The members pay 1d. a week into the Club funds, and run jumble sales to augment them.
A "meals on wheels" service is operated by the Women's Voluntary Services on five days a week,
serving 5,000 meals annually, at a charge of 8d. per meal, to ill and infirm old people in their own
homes. Transport is provided by the Association and consists of a van equipped with properly
insulated individual meal containers. The financing and running of this service provide a good
example of the co-operation between voluntary and statutory bodies recently urged afresh by the
Ministry of Health. The Borough Council, under the powers conferred by section 31 of the National
Assistance Act, 1948, made a grant, to cover costs of transport, of £300 for the year, and have renewed
it for a second year. The W.V.S. workers who take the meals round keep a watchful eye on their
quality and variety, and members of the Housewives Club undertake the not inconsiderable task of
washing-up. It has not been possible to provide special invalid diets; nevertheless, frequent calls
on the service are made by hospitals on behalf of old people discharged from their wards who need
meals for a few weeks until they are strong enough to manage for themselves again, and these calls
are being met. In addition to the two luncheon clubs at the Fourth Feathers Club and the Cookshop
of the St. Marylebone Housing Association, which between them serve 10,000 dinners a year at special
prices to old age pensioners, a third has been started by the Women's Voluntary Services at the St.
Marylebone Centre premises, No. 196, Marylebone Road. As in the case of the "meals on wheels"
service, the meals for the new club come from the London County Council Restaurant in Chiltern
Street, and the Association has been able to help by transporting the containers in their van, thus
adding another 4,000 or 5,000 meals a year to the van's usefulness. To meet the initial expenditure
and running costs incurred by the W.V.S. in this new venture, the Borough Council made a further
grant, not exceeding £80, under section 31 of the National Assistance Act, 1948.
Visiting of old people, the first of the Association's undertakings, remains the most important.
Twelve visitors report to the Hon. Secretary, usually at the monthly visitors' meeting. In addition,
the thirteen parish visitors of St. Peter's Church, Vere Street, have chosen one of their number as
liaison officer to attend the Association's meetings, make reports and discuss the problems of their
old people. This has proved a fruitful method of co-operation, and the Executive Committee would
welcome similar arrangements with other churches. There were over 11,000 people of pensionable
age in St. Marylebone at the end of 1947, the latest year for which figures are available. A large
proportion of them obviously do not need welfare work, but the number who do is great and increasing.
There are not enough visitors to send to those known to the Association and there must be many
lonely old folk of whom there is no knowledge until they fall into the kind of distress which brings
them into contact with the Home Helps Service or the Public Health Department. The Association
issued an urgent appeal to anyone who could spare even two afternoons a month to help in this simple
service of paying a few friendly visits. Personal friendships with individual people are considered
the basis of all useful welfare work, which no theories or generalisations can replace.
Through the kindness of the Mayors who have been successive Presidents of the Association it has
been possible to put forward the names of old people as recipients of gift parcels from abroad. The
local Fuel Overseer takes immediate action on any report from the Association of difficulty over the
delivery of coal, and the Borough Engineer has arranged to supply wood blocks at reduced prices to
old people.
No account of the work done on behalf of the old people in the Borough would be complete without
a tribute to the tireless devotion of Miss M. M. Sharp, one of the Council's sanitary inspectors, to this
aspect of the Department's activities in an official capacity and to the St. Marylebone Old People's
Welfare Association as a voluntary worker in her spare time.
As already indicated, the extension of the various services provided by the Association is entirely
dependent upon more helpers, and offers of assistance will be welcomed by the Honorary Secretary,
Miss M. K. C. Macintosh, Room 103, Town Hall, St. Marylebone, W.l. (Telephone : WELbeck 7766.)