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18
OLD PEOPLE'S WELFARE
For many years to come there will be an increasing proportion of aged persons in
the community, partly as a result of the high birth rate in the Victorian and Edwardian
years and partly because of the advances in medical science which have considerably
lowered the death rate.
Today most people live their three score years and ten and more, but unfortunately
are not always able to avoid increasing frailties of the flesh Sooner or later, despite
a vigourous spirit of independence, they need assistance from their relatives or from public
or voluntary agencies concerned with their health and welfare In addition to
diminishing faculties many old people find it extremely difficult to maintain a reasonable
standard of life and the chief cause is lack of money, and this shortage influences their
diet, their housing, their clothing, and their personal pride.
In Tottenham various services have been created under the auspices of the Old
People's Welfare Committee, the Women's Voluntary Service, and many other voluntary
organisations, to give help to the needy senior citizens of the Borough of Tottenham.
Retirement Advice Clinic
In this country more than five hundred men a day reach the age of retirement and
most of these are obliged to leave their work to fit the requirements of pension or
superannuation schemes and rarely because they are no longer able to continue their job
with efficiency or because of ill health, or failing powers. Very few, in fact, want to
give up work, For one thing, the pensions to which they have been subscribing for many
years and which on the basis of the original contract would have kept them comfortably,
have been prejudiced by inflation and the steadily falling purchasing power of the pound
over the last twenty or thirty years. Again, the men and women of this age group were
brought up to consider that independence was a virtue and most of them have a deep
aversion and sense of shame about claiming National Assistance to assist their pensions
Preparation for retirement should ideally begin years before as it is not generally
possible late in life to cultivate new interests and skills These have to grow from
small beginnings. Every man should have some personal interest in life in addition
to his work and his immediate family affairs. It matters little what this is, so long as it
is something in which he is interested and can be cultivated to fill the larger place in
his life after retirement from full-time work.
In many parts of the country both voluntary bodies and enlightened local authorities
have tried to get to grips with this problem and the national press radio and television
have pointed to the necessity for more understanding.
At the end of 1960 a Retirement Advice Clinic was started in Tottenham, to assess
the health of and give advice to men approaching retirement under the direction of my
deputy (Dr. Wright). Here in an unhurried atmosphere it is possible to discuss