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Their meals are provided by a nearby cafe, parents are charged the usual school price of 1 /- each.
I am glad to be able to report that the children are very happy at this place and that this scheme also helps
them to sever gradually their ties from the activities of the Junior Training Centre, thus preparing them towards
entrv to an Adult Training Centre.
The Holiday Centre
For some considerable time the staff have been aware of the fact that normal school holiday periods
as observed by the Junior Training Centre were unwelcome to parents particularly during the summer months.
This is the time when outings with their other children make it hard for mothers to include the mentally often
grossly retarded one and family pleasures are often severely curtailed. This period may put the family under
considerable stress and might make just that difference between continuing to care for the child at home or
requesting permanent residential placement. To help parents cope with the summer holiday period an experimental
scheme was instigated and eventually executed by the Mental Health Division. With the co-operation
of the Chief Education Officer, we were very fortunate to be allowed the use of Wykeham School, Neasden.
This was a particularly happy choice as the children were given ample outdoor as well as indoor space. It was
a joy to see them happily engaged on their tricycles and other large toys, having for once the space that should
be theirs by right. 24 trainable children were selected under the care of five staff. In charge was a highly
qualified person (the Supervisor of the Neasden Junior Training Centre had volunteered for this post) and four
student teachers took individual groups. The scheme ran for four weeks in August and was a great success.
Parents have expressed their appreciation in no uncertain terms and it is intended to run a similar holiday
centre in 1968.
Local authorities and voluntary societies have looked at this question of holiday care for some time
—the need is well known but not many ventures of this kind are actually operating. One of the reasons may
well be connected with staffing difficulties. It is important that at least one person should be highly experienced,
yet the best people, the Junior Training Centre teachers, are also those most in need of a break from these very
demanding children. In our case we were obliged to accept the offer of our Supervisor who very generously
allocated four of her holiday weeks to this venture. However, it remains to be seen how this difficult question
will be solved next year. Unfortunately this is not work for a lay person, so that one has to fall back on
experienced staff if the children are to derive the full benefit from their holiday.
Summer Holiday Camps
Mentally handicapped children and adults once again attended summer camps. These are organised
by various adjacent boroughs and participants bear their own expenses, after assessment. Ten children and
thirty-five adults attended in 1967.
Adult Training Centre
The attendance of mentally handicapped adults at adjacent London Boroughs' Adult Training Centres
continues.
The lack of facilities for the training of the adult mentally retarded within the Borough has been more
keenly felt during this year. As waiting lists are building up in those Boroughs who provide an Adult Training
Centre so our own becomes ever more of a reproach. An establishment of this kind is needed in Brent not
only to deal with the leavers from the Junior Training Centre but also with certain educationally sub-normal
school leavers and some unemployable mentally ill people. There is a hard core of patients for whom the
Occupational Therapy Day Centre cannot do any more, who are unable to stay the pace of open or even
sheltered employment (e.g. Remploy) and who are just lingering at home as a heavy burden to their families.
A small percentage of these would admirably fit into the environment of subnormal trainees at an Adult
Training Centre.
Pressure from the public as well as from within the Department is rising and so concrete planning for
such facilities must be given priority now. With this in mind the Director of Planning and Research had been
approached with a view to finding a building site available in the near future. The only site at all suitable
proved to be the ground adjoining Stonebridge Clinic, in Hillside, Harrow Road, N.W.10. However, the future
of the Clinic is almost certain to be its transfer to new premises within the Stonebridge Development Scheme
and the present premises will thus become vacant. It is therefore proposed to convert this Clinic and build on
to it such facilities as might be required for an efficient and—one hopes—economical unit for 120 trainees.
It is envisaged to phase the actual building in such a way that some facilities will become available
within a very short time of the removal of the Clinic.
In the meantime the urgent need for the training of senior mentally retarded persons has led to the
exploration of temporary facilities. At the close of the year under review the use of St. Margaret's Church Hall,
Nicoll Road, N.W.10, is being considered. As these premises are by no means ideal, the search for more suitable
temporary premises continues. The difficulty with measures of this kind is well known, in that one of the
problems is that some degree of adaptation almost certainly will be necessary and likely to prove costly.
Temporary facilities are never popular and it is to be hoped that the Stonebridge Scheme will not be unduly
delayed.
Social Clubs for Mentally Sub-Normals
One such, for children, is organised by the Brent Society for Mentally Handicapped Children, and
takes place at Tylers Croft School on Saturday mornings. Another, for mentally handicapped teenagers (The
Neasden Club) operates on Thursday evenings at Neasden Junior Training Centre and is organised by the
parents.
The Brent Society for Mentally Handicapped Children (Willesden & Wembley Areas)
This association of parents has as its aim the amelioration of the unhappy fate of the mentally deficient
child. Its declared objects are "To increase public awareness and understanding of the problem of the