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THE HEALTH OF BARKING
HISTORIC EASTBURY HOUSE.—Playtime in a day nursery.
whether, taking it by and large, we are going to gain, because there will be a tendency
to look upon pregnancy as a clinical state rather than a natural phenomenon and
delivery as a surgical operation rather than a natural process.
It cannot be too often emphasised, as I have done above, that pregnancy and
delivery; re perfectly natural functions. The fact that sometimes they go wrong
no more rakes them otherwise than that the hundred and one other functions of the
body which are natural also sometimes go wrong.
Day Nurseries. These were set up during the war all over the country in
order to release women for industry and it is still the Government's intention to
encourage them during the present shortage of labour.
You aintain three of these nurseries—one is at Castle Green, another is in
Eastbury House and the third is at Lodge Farm. The average daily attendances
during the year were 30, 50 and 29 respectively.
Day nurseries are not, as many people believe, purely a product of the war.
There were many day and residential nurseries in badly housed areas before the
war, but it was not until the call to women for National Service during the last
drastic upheaval of the world that their necessity was generally appreciated.
The work of the nurseries covers a wide range of social service. The duties
are many and varied and there is the closest co-operation between the local health
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