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5
PREFACE
STAFF AND DUTIES
Miss L. M. Fairclough retired from the position of Senior Clerk
in the Public Health Department in May, 1957. She first entered
the department as a temporary clerk in November, 1943 and was
appointed to the permanent staff in 1946. With the introduction of
the National Health Service Act, she was transferred to the staff of
the Surrey County Council in 1948, but in 1950 returned to take up
the appointment of Senior Clerk in the Public Health Department,
a position which she held until her retirement. During these years
Miss Fairclough gave invaluable service to this Council and I should
like to pay tribute to her excellent work and unfailing loyalty.
The vacancy was filled by Mr. G. W. Nickolls, who commenced
duty on the 13 th May.
Mr. J. M. Shearer resigned from his appointment of Junior Clerk
on 15 th July. He was succeeded by Miss Diane Day who started
work on 26th August.
There were no other changes in the staff of the department during
the year.
SECTION 'A' — STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
OF THE AREA
The Registrar General supplies local authorities with "Comparability
Factors" in respect of births and deaths, and you will see
that these have been used in the compilation of the various statistics.
I would explain that the use of the factors supplied by the Registrar
General gives corrected figures to the local rates, enabling truer comparisons
to be made with the remainder of the country—i.e. as though
the ages and sexes of the local population were in the same proportion
as those for the whole country.
The Borough of Barnes, in the County of Surrey, is situated on
the South Bank of the River Thames between Richmond and Putney.
One of the great advantages of the Borough is the fact that open
spaces comprise almost half of its area, including Richmond Park, the
River Thames, Barnes Common, Sheen Common, and other parks and
recreation grounds.
The Borough is mainly residential in character with some light
industry.