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Made many thousands of Manilla Folders.
Packed soap.
Made soap cartons.
Sorted screws.
Collated Christmas Greetings tags.
Made padded coat-hangers.
Made curtains.
Strung washers for plating.
Boxed plastic curtain wire.
It will be appreciated that the type of work given to any one individual will vary
very much on their degree of handicap. In practice the most difficult item has been
found to be collating the Christmas Greetings tags. Here there are 20 in a folder
which have to be put in in different numbers (three of one, two of one, four of another),
the difficulty here being that the correct proportions tend to be forgotten, a very
understandable error.
The types of work differ in their appeal to the old people. No particular work has
a reputation for outstanding popularity, but the reverse is true in that sewing buttons
on cards rates very low.
Whilst the financial aspect of the work is not of prime importance it is one of the
essentials of a Work Centre Scheme that income should be kept at as high a level as
possible in order to produce a sense of usefulness amongst the workers. Again
different types of work are more financially rewarding, thus needle-work and some
folder making has been the most profitable. The position in the Ealing Centres during
the year was that for every £i in wages 11/4d. was recovered. This is a very satisfactory
result considering the type of work undertaken. It is of course higher in some areas
but this is largely in parts of the country where there is a traditional craft which the
workers are able to continue into retirement, for example in the East end of London
tailoring represents a fair portion of the work and in some Centres there practically
the entire wages are recovered.
I am glad to be able to report that we have been able to get a continuous supply of
work during the year; without this any Work Centre Scheme must founder. An
important feature of the Work centres has been out-of-work activities and during
the year there was an annual outing to Eastbourne and a very enjoyable Christmas
Party.
Although it would be invidious to single out any one of the services for Old People
in Ealing as being particularly successful there is no doubt that the beneficial effect
of these centres has exceeded our most optimistic hopes.
EALING DAY TREATMENT CENTRE
I think I can do no better in reporting on the work of the Ealing Day Treatment
Centre for the year than to include an account of the Centre which has been published
in The Lancet and for whose reproduction I am grateful to the Editor.
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