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43
to shoulder height. Above this the plaster has been left undecorated
in order to give it ample time to dry out. During the
course of 1936 it will be decorated with a cream glossy paint, for
which money is available out of the original estimate for the building
of the centres.
A feature of the hall is the inclusion of coloured panels, in one
case of nursery rhymes, in another of animals, and in the third of
pastoral scenes. The lighting is of modern type; all the corners
are rounded and the floors are of ebnerite. There is hot and cold
water in the kitchen, weighing room and the doctors' rooms.
The centres have undoubtedly proved highly satisfactory.
It will be remembered that the Council anticipated that the
cost of running these new centres would be but a fraction of a penny
rate more than the cost of renting and administering the hired
premises. The Council will be pleased to hear that the estimates
for 1935-36 shew that this has actually been achieved.
The centres were opened on the 10th April, 1935, by Doctor
G. F. Buchan, Medical Officer of Health for Willesden; past President
of the Society of Medical Officers of Health and The Royal
Sanitary Institute.
The Chair was taken on all occasions by the past Chairman of
the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, Councillor F. C. O.
Minns, and a key was presented to Doctor Buchan to mark the
occasion.
Doctor Buchan congratulated Enfield on its foresight in building
the centres, and stated that he believed this was the only occasion
on which a maternity and child welfare authority had opened three
centres on one day. He commented, with appreciation, on the
design and the furnishing and the satisfactory yet economic way in
which the whole scheme had been carried out. He referred to
Enfield's foresight in providing so complete a maternity and child
welfare service, and assured the District that money spent in that
service was in truth money saved.
The Chairman, during the course of his addresses, expressed
his gratification of the achievement the Council had attained.