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1.8.3 Provision was made in the 10-year development plan for establishing an industrial
training centre for mentally subnormal adults in the Tolmers Square development
area. Because some years would elapse before this could be built, it was considered
that if part of the building at 44/44a Fitzroy Road could be adapted for use as an industrial
training centre without any considerable expense it would be very well worth while,
even on a short-term basis. It would make at least some provision for this service by
using a part of a building which would otherwise remain vacant, and the practical experience
gained would be of great use in planning a permanent purpose-built centre. The
Council agreed to this proposal in May 1967. In preparing the scheme for the approval of
the Ministry I am much indebted for their advice to Dr. Guy Wigley of the Greater London
Council, Mr. Maplestone of the London Borough of Ealing and the officers of the (then)
Ministry of Health. The Borough Architect was responsible for the necessary alterations,
repairs and decorations and theManager(Mr. Thomas) who was appointed on 1st December,
1967, advised on the equipment to be provided.
1.8.4 Loan sanction (£8,5000) was given in September, 1967.
1.8.5 Accommodation is on the ground floor, comprising two workshops; a staff room;
a classroom; a Manager's office; and toilets. The separate single-storey building across
the yard provides a kitchen and dining room and is used also for social activities. There
is also an open-air recreational area.
1.8.6 The centre provides purposeful activity for the trainees and therefore resembles
a factory floor rather than a school. Mentally subnormal persons who have acquired sufficient
skill for employment in open industry often fail because they are unused to simple
routines such as clocking-inor choosing their meals in the canteen break. The atmosphere
at the Fitzroy Centre and the introduction of short regular tuition sessions for small
groups are aimed to help the mentally handicapped to adjust to such problems. A small
domestic unit is included to provide domestic training.
1.8.7 The centre provides training for persons of both sexes, and the patients attending
were, in the first instance, those Camden residents who had been attending industrial
centres in neighbouring boroughs. As in most cases the patients had not worked with
persons of the opposite sex, the Principal Mental Health Social Worker(Miss P.M. Perrott)
arranged for the 37 patients involved to be admitted in stages during the latter part of
March, 1968.
1.8.8 The Fitzroy Industrial Centre was officially opened on 5th March, 1968, by
Professor Jack Tizard, M.A., B.Litt.Ph.D., Professor of Child Development at the
Institute of Education, University of London.
1.8.9 At the end of 1968 the number of patients attending was 53.
THE KONSTAM CENTRE
1.9.1 The Highgate New Town Clinic at 75, Chester Road, Highgate, was built in
1922 by Mr. and Mrs. Kohnstamm in memory of their two sons, Norman and Jack, who were
killed inaction in the 1914—1918 war.
1.9.2 Originally the premises were used to provide a school treatment centre with
operating facilities for tonsils and adenoids, but during the 1939—45 war the upper floor
was requisitioned by the St. Pancras Borough Council and used as a day nursery, providing
35 places. Subsequently the London County Council as the local health and education
authority became responsible for all the services there.
1.9.3 The bad geographical location and cramped conditions were the subject during
1956 of many complaints from mothers who attended the maternity and child welfare
clinics which had been established there, and these services were transferred to the
St. Albans centre when that building was completed in January, 1960.
1.9.4 In 1963 Mrs. Farquharson (nee Kohnstamm) on behalf of the Highgate New Town
Clinic Company, which owned the property as a charity, expressed concern that the
premises were not being used to their full capacity. The South Highgate Nursery, as it
was then known, continued to be used as a day nursery and a school dental clinic, but
these activities ceased in February 1965.
1.9.5 The charity proposed in 1964 that the premises should be converted to a Cheshire
Home to provide long-stay care for physically handicapped children. Happily, on the formation
of the London Borough of Camden the premises were offered to the Borough Council
on condition that they were used for child welfare.
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