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Total Population of Haringey in 1971—237,065.
Adult Training Centre
This centre for the training of the severely mentally subnormal, aged 16 or over, is in the charge of Social
Services Department. However, Health Department, which originally established the Centre, still has a considerable
responsibility for the health of the trainees.
At first sight the Centre resembles a small factory but this is only one aspect of its function, which is to prepare
the trainees, if possible, for independent life in the community, in which, of course, the industrial environment
plays a large part. Many other basic skills are taught such as elementary hygiene, hairdressing, and how to cross
the road or take a bus. Special stress has been laid on sport. This is partly because we have believed from the
first that subnormals are entitled to enjoy the benefits it provides. There is no doubt that the trainees have
gained great satisfaction and pleasure from this, particularly in the successes they have achieved in competitions
with other adult training centres. But sport is also valuable in other ways: in the improvement in general health
and co-ordination it brings. One tends to forget that mental subnormality usually involves an element of
physical handicap as well. This is why so many have poor posture and clumsy movement.
It was therefore decided in the early stages of the establishment of the centre to develop a small plot of land
on the Bounds Green Industrial Estate close to the centre into an open-air recreation area for the trainees. It
was triangular in shape and so small that it was obvious that only a limited range of activities would be possible.
The Department approached the Eastern Region of the Central Council for British Naturism, which holds
sessions at one of the Council's swimming pools, for advice based on their considerable experience of making
the maximum recreational use of small areas.
It was eventually decided to have a games court in the centre of the area with a greenhouse at one end and
plots for horticulture at the other. The court was 21'x45', to be used for the game of Miniten, which is
popular in the Naturist movement.
The game is played by the rules of tennis, but instead of a racket the player uses a double-bladed bat known as a
"thug", the handle being set internally between the blades. The ball therefore cannot be struck as forcefully
and co-ordination is made easier by the fact that the total reach is only a little beyond arm's length. Members of
the Naturist Movement kindly came to the Centre on a Saturday morning and showed the staff how to play
the game. An interesting discovery was that at no time did the ball go over the top of the 9' fence. The
instructors felt that it would be possible to teach the trainees and it was decided to concentrate on indoor
instruction during the winter months to allow the grass of the court to become established. Experience showed
that a number of the trainees were able to strike the ball with the thug under playing conditions. Consideration
was then given to the question of whether they would be able to use the system of scoring used in tennis, or if a
simpler system would be required.
However, before this problem was resolved, it was learnt that the site was to be taken over shortly for housing.
Further progress has therefore ceased.
While the urgent need for housing is fully appreciated, it is hoped that the Council will be able to provide
another small area of land close to the Centre where the trainees' need for physical recreation can be met. It
is also hoped that it will be possible to continue this promising investigation into the game of Miniten, with its
possibilities of reducing the problem of limited space for exercise encountered by Adult Training Centres
throughout the country.
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