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(3) Care of Persons rendered Homeless by Enemy Action.—This
service, primarily the responsibility of the Middlesex County Council,
was delegated to the Local Authority in October 1940, and the Medical
Officer of Health was appointed the Executive Officer to control this
service. The local problem was then reviewed objectively and buildings
selected for Rest Centres were sited so as to place no geographical hardship
upon any person rendered homeless and seeking shelter, food and rest.
The Rest Centres were provided with protective sleeping accommodation,
fitted with beds or bunks, with adequate cooking facilities, food stocks,
supplies of clothing and staffed on a twenty-four hour voluntary basis.
The voluntary helpers, to whom so much is owed for their able and patient
service, were drawn from Church workers, the Joint War Organisation
and the Women's Voluntary Services. By co-operation with the
organiser of the W.V.S., Mrs. County Councillor Lynch, the work of
supervision of the personnel was undertaken by Mrs. Archibald Wilson,
whose initiative and energy has since contributed so much to the efficiency
of the service. Contiguous with the Rest Centre Service, there was
established, a Billeting and Rehousing service, and Mr. T. E. Cowan,
F.C.I.S., a member of the Medical Officer of Health's School Medical
Department was seconded whole-time to this service as Rehousing Officer.
This appointment has since proved to have been the best possible selection
for a post demanding not only ability, but a sympathetic understanding
of the social needs of persons who have suffered from the unexpected
stresses of losing their home and personal belongings. The three stages
in the rehabilitation of the homeless were centralised in a single administrative
unit along with such matters as salvage and storage of furniture,
recovery of personal effects, searcher and information services, thus
saving the unnecessary fatigue to the homeless of having to go from one
office to another. The result of this centralisation of all services concerned
with persons bombed out of their homes has, from the administrative
angle, done a very great deal to speed up the stages of the final rehabilitation
of the homeless.
(4) War-time Nurseries.— The Maternity and Child Welfare Committee
has established eight non-residential war-time nurseries and a
residential nursery party in Hertfordshire, with total accommodation
for 380 children of mothers engaged in war-time occupations. With
considerable pre-war experience of various types of nursery provision,
the Authority was able to take what might have been a more formidable
task, almost in its normal stride. With the additional provision made
by the Local Education Committee for the attendance of 730 children
under five years of age in school infant departments with the availability
of Play Centre accommodation for extended hours, and an evacuated