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Temporary
Accommodation
Cecil House settled down during the year, to provide with Woodlands for Homeless
Families, at times being overfull to a degree causing great concern. Comments made in
previous years about the problems of homeless families still apply, there being nothing new
to report.
DAY CENTRES
Grosvenor House
School
The major event in the year was the opening of Grosvenor House School for Mentally
Subnormal Children in Hoe Street.
In October, 1947 Mrs.Knight, the present head teacher opened in the main hall of the
Friends' Settlement, Greenleaf Road, Walthamstow, an "Occupation Centre for 46 people
("ineducable", "imbecile", "feebleminded", "moron") aged 6 to 30. A year later it moved
to All Saints Church Hall, Shortlands Road, Leyton, where there were 125 on the register for
Mrs.Knight and her four helpers to cope with. In 1951 they moved again to Woodbine Place in
Wanstead where, as the Junior Training Centre they remained until 1970, losing in due course
all the adults to the new Adult Training Centre. Now in April 1971 in a brand new purpose
built building they go forward as part of the general educational system, accepted, as fully
as the law of the land can make it so, as equal citizens with the rest of us. There can be few
examples of social progress as striking as this. As Medical Officers of Health now hand on
the baton to Education Officers they can sincerely wish them well for the battle is only half
won and there is a long way to go. The great advance made so far is only an indication of how
far behind the rest of the field this section of the population were twenty years ago, Mrs.Knight
writes:-
"That part of the population described as mentally subnormal contains a range of
ability as wide as it is among the intellectually normal and superior; the range includes
children whose profound constitutional impairment renders them devoid of the capacity to
acquire anything much in the way of language or conceptual ability and involving an intensive
degree of nursing care; and children who are malformed, mal co-ordinated with limited conceptual
abilities and severe speech defects to those children with milder degrees of subnormality
who at the upper levels merge into the "slow learners" section of the community.
It was with this wide ability range in mind that Grosvenor House School was discussed
and planned. Before the actual building commenced the following points had to be considered
and worked out in detail.
Anticipating the differing (and often identical though in degree only) needs of the
children with regard to their education, training and nursing requirements.
Deciding on the type of building bearing in mind the need for possible future extension
and limitations of the site.
Design and overall aesthetic appearance.
Drawing up lists of equipment and furniture for every room as the foundations were
being laid.
Defining the roles and designation of the staff to be recruited.
Cost and amount of money available.
Visiting the homes of the child on the waiting lists; and
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