View report page

117
Sewing Classes.
Two classes are held each week—one at the Model Welfare Centre on
Thursday afternoon and one at the School for Mothers on Monday afternoon.
These classes fulfil a most useful purpose, as many young girls in Shoreditch
work in factories when they leave school and are ignorant of needlecraft when
they marry.
The attendances at the Sewing Classes during the last five years have
been as follows:—
Model Welfare
28, Herbert Street. Centre.
1927 484 592
1928 463 549
1929 319 526
1930 416 595
1931 357 593
Dining Centres.
There are two Dining Centres, one at 31, Herbert Street and one at the
Model Welfare Centre, both under the direct control of the Maternity and
Child Welfare Committee. At these Centres, the Maternity and Child
Welfare Committee allow dinners to necessitous mothers upon the certificate
of the Assistant Medical Officer of Health and the recommendation of the
Health Visitor. Eligibility for these allowances is determined by the application
to each case of the approved scale of income set out in the next section
of this report dealing with milk allowances.
Except in special cases where the need is urgent, all statements as to
income are verified before the allowance is made.
Great benefit is derived from these dinners both during the later months
of pregnancy and the period of lactation. With regard to the former of these
two periods, the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee after considering
the interim report of the Departmental Committee on Maternal Mortality,
decided to grant meals to expectant mothers during and after the fifth month
of pregnancy instead of only at the end of the sixth as laid down in Circular
185.
This arrangement took effect as from March, 1931.
The number of mothers attending for dinners during 1931 and the preceding
year are compared in the following table:—
Model Welfare Centre. 31, Herbert St.
1930. 1931. 1930. 1931.
Number of individual
mothers attending 114 183 122 148
Total attendances 6,625 11,552 8,749 10,046