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27
"Southwood Residential Club has given a happy home to
forty elderly people during 1952.
Three residents were transferred permanently to hospital,
one of whom died there shortly afterwards; three residents were
transferred to nursing homes, one left the Club to join her son
in South Africa, and one left to go and live with a daughter.
We were, therefore, able to accept seven new residents, two men
and five women.
Two residents spent a short time in hospital and returned to
the Club, and one fell in her room and broke a femur and was
transferred to hospital, then to one of the W.V.S. Nursing Homes
for convalescence, and she eventually returned to the Club after
an absence of just over four months.
The Management Committee have noted with concern the
increasing cost of food, fuel, etc., and it has been necessary to
raise the fees twice during this year, and they are now £2 14s. Od.
per week. This is in spite of the fact that we grow nearly all
our own fruit and vegetables. This comes very hard on residents
of limited means, who take a pride in having provided for their
old age.
The Handicrafts section has developed steadily, after a very
slow start, and now a great proportion of the women join in and
are getting great satisfaction from making things. The men
keep busy about the house and garden of 5½ acres, but we are
hoping to start some more handicrafts for them. We are more
and more convinced that the answer to old age is to enable
everyone to feel that they still have some contribution to make
to life.
The television and billiards continue to be popular, and the
entertainments of all sorts, including concert parties, dancing
classes, Shakespeare players, film shows, travel talks, musical
evenings, etc., all make a great contribution to life.
The residents have converted a room in the basement into
a music room, having rehabilitated an old piano, and are having
great fun singing and playing the piano together."
"Merevale," Bickley Park Road.
The year 1952 was one of consolidation rather than of
progress. Merevale continued to operate successfully, finishing
the year with 33 residents (8 male and 25 females, including one
married couple) which meant that there were 2 vacancies; since
filled.
Due no doubt to the increased number of County Council
Homes, a noticeable drop occurred in the applications for
admission suggesting that the accommodation available for Old
People regarded as able bodied is approaching saturation point,