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SEMINAR ON PUBLIC RELATIONS
This Seminar was arranged by the Central Council for Health Education for the
Public Health Department, Dagenham Borough Council, in which members of the Area
Health Staff also participated, as well as members of other Departments of the Corporation.
It was held at the Civic Centre on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th December 1957 and
was opened by the Mayor of Dagenham, Councillor R. Blackburn, J.P., and
Alderman (Mrs.) A. E. Prendergast was in the Chair.
Mr. Norman H. Rogers, Public Relations Organiser, N.A.L.G.O., gave an interesting
talk on Public Relations in Local Government, in which he defined public relations
as a deliberately planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding
with the public at large. He said it was up to the Department to show the
public that what they are getting is what they have asked for and that they should take
an interest in local government and how it operates. He suggested that local government
is hanging by a thread to-day because the man in the street does not appreciate what
it does for him and that good public relations could do a lot to strengthen local government.
In the afternoon of the first day the Press and Public Health were discussed and a
talk was given by Mr. J. L. Dooley, the Editor of the "Romford Recorder" who appealed
for more confidence in the press and said that the press would respect confidences.
He did, however, agree that the cub reporter presented great difficulties because he
often did not understand the background of the subject with which he was trying to
deal. Mr. Dooley was interested in a suggestion put forward that his paper should
run a column which would publicize the people, both councillors and officials, concerned
with local services and said that he hoped to start such a column in January 1958.
It was with deep regret that shortly after this seminar we learnt of the death of
Mr. Dooley. We hope that his ideas will be fostered by his successor.
The morning of December 3rd was taken up with a panel discussion with the
Chief Officers of the Dagenham Corporation, together with Dr. Franklin, the Deputy
Medical Officer of Essex County Council, which dealt with complaints put up by four
members of the public. These complaints aroused a good deal of discussion and it
was later agreed by members that the panel had made a valuable contribution to our
understanding of the public's point of view.
The afternoon was taken up with demonstrations of the various techniques of
communication by four members of the staff of the Central Council for Health Education.
Posters, leaflets, flannelgraphs, film strips, audience participation and the use of films
were all discussed and demonstrated, and the Press and Liaison Officer of the Central
Council for Health Education gave an interesting talk on how to organise a public meeting.
Two films were shown, "As Others See Us" and "Mr. Jenkins Pays His Rates."
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