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devoted to short speeches by Councillor G. E. Offord, Chairman of the Health Committee
; Dr. White, Medical Officer of Health, Corporation of London, and Mr.
Ludgater, Manager of the Solid Smokeless Fuels Federation. The second part of
the evening took the form of "Any Questions" ; there were six members on the
panel each representing an aspect of the problem. Mr. Wynford Vaughan Thomas,
the B.B.C. commentator, acted as Question Master. Questions which had been
submitted in advance by members of the public were asked from the floor of the
Hall. The audience, which numbered approximately 250, included many members
of the Council, representatives of interested organisations, officers of this and other
local authorities, together with residents of the Borough.
A fortnight prior to the inaugural meeting at the Town Hall, letters, together
with posters and invitation cards provided by the Solid Smokeless Fuels Federation,
were sent to over 250 voluntary organisations throughout the Borough. Questions
for submission to the Quiz Panel at the inaugural meeting were invited. This
advance publicity was also made available to all local public utilities, Chamber of
Commerce, and local fuel merchants. The Solid Smokeless Fuels Federation
advertised in the local press the details of the five weeks' campaign ; all departments
of the Council co-operated in the display of posters, and the Libraries Department
in particular distributed over 4,000 invitation cards. The Sanitary Inspectors
called on many local shopkeepers and obtained their co-operation in the display
of posters and the distribution of invitation cards. On Friday, the 28th and Saturday,
the 29th January, a van equipped with public address equipment was hired
and toured the Borough giving public announcements of the inaugural meeting.
The Solid Smokeless Fuels Federation mobile exhibition which toured the
Borough formed an attractive display of four of the more common approved
appliances installed in fireplaces and burning smokeless fuel. Displayed also were
samples of all the smokeless fuels, together with literature explaining their use.
Demonstrators were in attendance during the time the exhibition was open to give
advice to the public.
The exhibition was staged at nine different sites in the Borough, commencing
on the 31st January, at Beresford Square and subsequently travelling to and
opening at Borgard Road, Plumstead Common, Well Hall, Abbey Wood,
Eltham High Street, Coldharbour Estate and Eltham Green. Over 6,000 people
visited the exhibition and 15,000 booklets on smokeless fuels and appliances were
issued by the Solid Smokeless Fuels Federation.
Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition in various parts of the Borough
local public meetings were held in halls adjacent to the sites. Each meeting was
given advance publicity in the local press and written invitations were
distributed to over 1,000 households in the vicinity of the meeting place. The
Chairman of each meeting was a Borough Councillor representing the Ward concerned,
and supporting him were the Chief Sanitary Inspector, the Council's Smoke
Inspector, and Mr. Ludgater of the Solid Smokeless Fuels Federation. The
meetings opened with the film "Guilty Chimneys," a copy of which had been
purchased by the Council. Questions were asked by members of the public and
lively discussions on the problem took place. Possibly due to the very cold weather
with snow the meetings were not well attended ; however, what they lacked in
numbers was made up by the interest of those who did attend.
A local firm kindly offered shop premises at the corner of Thomas Street and
Wellington Street for use by the Council free of charge, and this offer was gratefully
accepted. The Council, in conjunction with the Solid Smokeless Fuels Federation,
converted the ground floor of the shop into an exhibition, and an Information and
Advice Centre. An attractive window display was made by the Solid Smokeless
Fuels Federation consisting of typical tiled fireplaces fitted with modern approved
smokeless fuel appliances of all types. Furniture, carpets and models were supplied
by a local firm to complete the window display. The interior was set up as an
exhibition, which included working models on loan from the Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research and the Meteorological Office. The models
comprised a temperature inversion unit which showed very efficiently the effects
of the change of air temperature in the production of smog, and a volumetric deposit
gauge, a daily recording instrument and lead peroxide instrument. These are
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