Meet
the Local Associations
1: Cambridgeshire .
?s
1^08
saw
the
now
and
training homes was largely wasted through lack of subsequent control. Only 3% became self-supporting and a large proportion of the remainder
beginnings of what Cambridgeshire Mental
the
Welfare Association, one of the Local Associations affiliated to the N.A.M.H.
It was then that two members of the Cambridge Charity Organisation Mrs. F. A. Keynes and the Mrs. Horace Darwin (later Lady
on the state and between the workhouse, the prison and the inebriates home".
were a
^?ciety, jion. Darwin)
The Borough Education Committee asked whether they had plans for starting a special school or special class, and the outcome was a conferon the education of mentally ence children defective attended by a member of the Board of Education. The conference was told that the cost per place per annum in a special school was between ?10 and ?12, three times the cost of ordinary schools. The Education Committee "postponed further consideration". It was three years later that a special class was begun by the Education Committee and this has now grown into the splendid Lady Adrian School.
conducted an inquiry into lhe number of feeble-minded children ?f school This age in Cambridge. showed that there were about 30 attending elementary schools who ?}ight be helped by special teaching. There was then no obligation placed ?n the local authorities to provide special schools or special classes for Mentally defective children and this, c?upled with the fact that there was n? Act of Parliament relating to the pare of older mental defectives, made lt seem desirable to form an association to concern itself with these Problems in Cambridge.
Representative Pn
ation
were
In May, 1912, following a meeting arranged jointly by the Cambridge
committee
25th May, 1908, such
an
associ-
University Eugenics Society and the Sub-Committee on "Mental Defect and its Social Dangers", the desirability of establishing a Home for feeble-minded boys in Cambridge was It was in 1914 that this discussed. when the Subfruition reached Committee arranged to transfer from Uxbridge to Cambridge a small home for high grade feeble-minded boys of Littleton House School school age. still exists at Girton.
when the Subcommittee for the Care of the Feebleappointed by the Cambridge Charity Organisation Society, had its "rst meeting. It was a large and came into
heavy charge
rotated
being
minded,
?"epresentative committee, including Mayor of Cambridge, the Regius |he Professor of Medicine, representatives ?t the Borough Education Committee, the Eastern Counties Asylum for ^d "^ental Defectives. A meeting in December, 1908,
decided that its main work "must be 0 spread information and influence Public opinion". Early the following y.ear a member of the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the feeble Minded read a report which stressed the need for continuity of of the feeble-minded and a|leged that "the expensive education ?iven to them through special schools
treatment
65
The Sub-Committee was concerning itself, too, with individual problems, and
we
to send
note that ?16
a
young
man
9s
was
raised
to the Eastern
Counties Institution where he would receive training. For such cases at this time money was specially raised, but three years later a permanent basis of subscription was formed from which to meet such needs.
A letter to
was a few months afterwards that the Central Association for the Care of the Mentally Defective, which had been formed in 1913 and to which the Cambridge Association was affiliated, also changed its title to "Central Association for Mental Welfare". Following the Mental Deficiency the Council Act, 1927, County requested the Association to draw up a scheme for an occupation and training centre. The scheme was accepted and the centre opened in 1929 with a grant from the County Council of ?117. The centre continued to be managed in this way until 1947 when with a need for larger premises, the County Council assumed direct control of it. Voluntary workers assisted at the centre for many years. The work continued to expand, the
The
Times urged the introduce legislation, but the Mental Deficiency Bill, coming
Government
to
before Parliament in November, 1912, controversial that it was withdrawn. In January, 1913, the SubCommittee resolved: "That this Association very greatly regrets the delay in passing the Mental Deficiency Bill and earnestly hope that the Government will... ensure the passage of the Bill in the next Session". The Mental Deficiency Bill was eventually enacted and came into operation in 1913. Under the Act, the Cambridgeshire County Council set up their Statutory Committee for the Care of the Mentally Defective and four members of the Sub-Committee joined it by invitation. The SubCommittee split off from its parent, the Cambridge Charity Organisation Society, and amalgamated with the new Cambridgeshire Voluntary Association for the Care of the Mentally Defective which was formed under the auspices of the County Council. In 1915 the Association received its first grant from the County Council in consideration of statutory duties undertaken on the Council's behalf. The first part-time paid help was of This integration employed. statutory and voluntary work continues today, the staff now increased to workers social full-time four (designated mental welfare officers of the County Council), a home teacher, a workshop manager, the secretary and a clerk. was so
Supervision and
major part being "voluntary" visiting*
but Wolf Cub Packs and Brownies for backward children were run and a teaching class was running some years before the occupation centre opened. The reports for many years in the 1920s show financial anxiety and what was done as voluntary activity was made possible only by the very real generosity of the Executive Committee and others. The Report of the work during 1924 is particularly interesting. It refers to a Conference convened by the Association in 1919 to consider what steps could be taken "to provide for the treatment of early mental disease". As a result of the Conference, the Cambridge Mental Hygiene Committee was formed and an out-patient clinic for was mental disorders opened at Addenbrooke's Hospital. The Report continues: "The proposed provision for the of in-patients without reception certification had to be abandoned in view of the great expense involved, public money being available for such a purpose without new legislation." Also in 1924, at the request of the County Education Committee, the Association undertook enquiries into the home conditions of children regarded by the School Medical Stan
care
The activities for a while were concerned solely with supervision and care of the mentally defective, but in 1921 the Medical Superintendent of the Cambridgeshire Mental Hospital asked the Association for reports from time to time on home conditions of patients on the point of discharge and their help in after-care on discharge. It was agreed to undertake this work and the Association's title was altered to the Cambridgeshire Voluntary It Association for Mental Welfare. 66
as
mentally deficient and in 1936 afterwork for children leaving the Borough Special School. This work continues and there is particularly close care
co-operation
with the headmaster and
staff of the
Special School. Assistance given to the Youth Employment J?Officer in placing difficult cases in employment.
The next years were devoted to the established pattern of the Association's w?rk. In 1947 the County Council, assuming powers under Section 28 of lhe National Health Act, 1947, invited the Association to undertake com-
munity
care
of those
suffering
from
all forms of mental illness. The followyear the word "voluntary" was from the title of the Association as it was felt that this would "ring the name more in keeping with
ing
dropped
Modern conditions. But as the Report for 1950 demonstrates, the voluntary aspect of the Association was by no means being overlooked. The need for a hostel for Psychiatric patients was recognised aud this was realised in 1958 when Winston House, a half-way home, was opened through the joint efforts of the ^?O.S. Society and the Association. .The Mental Health Act, 1959, and the Jubilee Year of the Association gave good cause for the Association t?
re-examine itself and map out its A new constitution was adopted and this provided for the have Executive to Committee appointed to it two County Council
tuture.
representatives, representative,
a
and
Council
City representatives
trom the Hospital Board and Hospital Management Committees. Each statu-
tory body also appointed a medical advisor. The City Council claimed from the County Council delegated health and welfare powers, but were obliged under the terms of the delegation to continue with any arrangements made by the County Council with a voluntary agency. The Association thus provides an integrated service for the use of the two local authorities and the hospital with considerable flexibility and a live
"voluntary" spirit.
"Voluntary"
activities
At the present time the "voluntary" activities, that is, financed by monies subscribed to the Association as opposed to local authority grants and in which members of the Association and the staff in their spare time play an active part, are numerous. A sheltered workshop for the mentally was subnormal opened on 11th September, 1961, and now has ten workers. A "good neighbour" service ?an extended arm of the professional worker?has been started. Evening classes for backward readers and writers are held each Wednesday. Meetings and conferences as part of the Association's work of education and propaganda are arranged. Talks are given to local societies and financial and other help given to needy cases.
is too The Association only conscious of the things that remain to be done and will do its best to keep alive the pioneering spirit displayed by its founder-members.