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12
school and to assist in any endeavour to find a site, and also to consider
contributing to the cost, subject to the consent of the Minister of
Health, and that the Borough Council are willing to help in any other
way possible. The County Council have not yet arrived at a final
decision on the matter. The Maternity and Child Welfare Centres
should be improved. As already pointed out in previous Reports,
it is very rarely that an existing building can be adequately adapted
and equipped. To be thoroughly satisfactory, premises should be
built for the purpose, and the use of church halls merely hired for
the occasion cannot be satisfactory. The work at the specially
adapted building at Lower Clapton Road is carried out under
infinitely more satisfactory conditions than can be possible at the
other centres. Many boroughs have now built premises exclusively
for maternity and child welfare work. The Council have now the
opportunity, in connection with their clearance schemes, to build
centres of this description which need not be expensive buildings.
On January 15th, 1930, the Council agreed to rent premises for
this purpose to be erected by the County Council when the Northwold
Road area had been cleared. It is to be hoped that the Council
will build maternity and child welfare centres when clearing other
unhealthy areas in the Borough. The Council have agreed to a most
comprehensive scheme of clearance and rehousing to which I will
refer later, and the wonderful opportunity thus afforded of establishing
a complete and adequately equipped maternity and child welfare
service should not be forgotten in this connection. It is hard to give
by a statement only of figures and diseases an adequate impression
of the value of the centres; full statistics will be found later on
in the Report. Many letters are received expressing appreciation
of the centres; the following, dated December 12th, 1930, has a
very human ring about it and will please those interested in this
work; it expresses, I believe, the gratitude felt by many for the
assistance given by the Council:—
"12th December, 1930.
"I am writing this letter to you to thank you for your great kindness
in all you have done for me for giving me my teeth and I must tell you it
was completely out of my reach to ever think of getting them although I
knew quite well that the terrible teeth 1 had was causing all my illness and
bad health and I cannot hardly realise that I have got them they are a lovely
set I look ever so much better and I am hoping that my health will now
get better also. Well I must again thank you God knows what some of us
poor mothers would do at times without the welfare centres it is one of
our greatest helps in our difficulties with our children and ourselves.
"I remain Yours
' 'Most Gratefully,
.,
There can be no doubt that not only the material assistance but
the help and encouragement given from the centres is often a
matter of great importance to families living under conditions of