View report page

The following table sets out the number of non-Southgate
mothers who attended the various Centres during the year:
East Barnet District
The Bourne 91
Broomfield House —
Bowes Park —
New Southgate 51
Community Hall 15
Winchmore Hill —
Pre-Natal 7
Voluntary Helpers.—The Voluntary Helpers' Committee
continued its excellent work during the year. The voluntary
Helpers must be congratulated upon the quality of the services
which they render, and it is pleasing to report that these services
were officially recognised at a function held in the Town Hall
during December, 1937.
General.—The scheme mentioned in last year's Annual Report
for the provision of an additional ad hoc combined Maternity
Centre and Day Nursery within the Borough has not yet materialised.
Members of the Committee spent considerable time in
inspecting premises of a similar nature recently constructed in and
around London, but certain difficulties encountered have delayed
the execution of the scheme. While the provision both of a modern
Maternity and Child Welfare Centre and of an adequate Day
Nursery appears highly desirable, these are not matters which
should be decided at a moment's notice. It is, however, anticipated
that a definite decision will shortly be reached.
It is somewhat regrettable that the arrangement whereby the
Borough Council will share a combined School and Maternity and
Child Welfare Centre with the Middlesex County Council has also
not been completed. When provided, this Centre should prove of
very great service to the Bowes Park and New Southgate areas,
and it is to be hoped that the County Council will see their way clear
to commence building operations at a very early date.
Elsewhere in this Report I have stated that our outlook towards
Infectious Diseases must, never be static, but, should continue to
advance with the times. This remark applies with even greater
force to Maternity and Child Welfare, in many respects the foundation
of modern preventive medicine. We must be continually
prepared to harness scientific knowledge to our use, and to examine
and re-adjust our perspective in the light, of modern knowledge.
34