View report page

20.
having its own as in previous years); a clothes mending service is arranged
by only one club, but does useful work; entertainments (of which a weekly one
is given at Hoxton Club by members of the Concert Artistes' Association under
Miss Betty Bray), a Christmas one for all clubs together in the Town Hall,
annual birthday parties at each club, and many others; Harvest festival gifts
are received and distributed at each club through the generosity of several
schools and others, and also given to housebound pensioners; Summer outings
for the housebound (are arranged by our visitors who hire a coach when
sufficient can be assembled for a coachload, and others are arranged in
members' cars by Rotary.) Two items in this list are not provided in
Shoreditch for somewhat unexpected reasons. Hairdressing facilities are
refused by the old men because they object to 'blackleg' haircuts I Also no
Employment scheme is formed because the District Auditor has refused sanction
to the Council. Apart from these exceptions, Shoreditch provides for all the
remaining services (covering 24 in all.)
Shoreditch Borough Council has been one of the few Councils in this
country to take over every possible means of helping its old people (voluntary
help being difficult here), dating back to the time when it was found that old
people were using wartime surface air raid shelters as meeting places after
all bombing had ceased. The Council then started a weekly afternoon club at
its Model Welfare Centre, and this proved so popular that clubs were extended
until, at the present time there are four full time clubs working in all
quarters of the Borough, and open from 10.30 to 4.30 from Monday morning to
Friday afternoon each week, each club being provided with its own paid cooksupervisor
and helper-cleaner. At each club, members are provided with
comfort, heat and light, daily newspapers, 10d. hot lunches, 1d. teas, 1d.cakes,
all kinds of games and entertainments, radio, television (at three of them),
several annual outings, pantomimes and so forth, as well as handicraft classes
with L.C.C. instructors. In addition to the full time clubs there are afternoon
club3 in other parts of the Borough so that no reasonably able-bodied
pensioner need be lonely. For those who are unable to go to clubs because of
disabilities, the Council employs three visitors, one being full-time with
part of her salary paid by the City of London and East London Dispensary Fund,
while the other two visitors have a portion of their time allocated either to
club organisation or to dealing with bookings for the Council's Holiday Home
at Copthorne. During the year they paid 3,837 visits.
The Council's Holiday and Rest Home at Copthorne, Nr.Crawley, Sussex, is
run from the Health Department, and is still unique in Britain for size and
amenities. It has accommodation for 46 adults and numerous cots, so that
the number of guests at any one time during the peak periods is well over 60,
with 10 of the guests accommodated in ground floor bedrooms, so that all ages
and types can be taken so long as they do not require full medical and nursing
attention. The Home is a large Victorian country house standing in 9 acres
of grounds and having most amenities required by guests, including television.
The gardening staff produce vegetables and fruit to cover almost all needs,
and keep pigs to dispose of swill from the house. The charges made to guests
by the Council vary from 10/- per week for pensioners from Shoreditch to
£5. 12. 6. for adults from outside sources, and regular services between
Shoreditch and the Home are maintained by the Council's coach at a charge of
10/- return (half fare for children of course.)