MOTHERCRAFT TRAINING.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18367, 28 April 1925, Page 6

MOTHERCRAFT TRAINING.

NEW HOME AT HIGHGATE.

THE CROMWELL MANSION

(TBOll OtJS OWU CO&BSBFONDZNT.) LONDON. Marcli 14. Oliver Cromwell may have disliked pomp and pageantry, nevertheless lie seems to have displayed no niggardly characteristics when he bnilfc a house for his son-in-law at Highgate. Moreover, he or his family selected) su spot which in those days could not have been excelled in the vicinity of London for panoramic .view and for healthy atmosphere. Now that the Mcthercratt Training Society have transferred their headquarters from Earl's Court to Cromwell House, the matron finds that the housekeeping bills have gone up considerably, owing to the increasedly healthy appetites of the nurses. Doubtless the infants whose happy let it is to spend a brief period of their early lives there will also benefit greatly from the pure air of tiie North London highlands. The Mothercraft Training Centre has been installed in its riew quarters for ten days or so, and erven the weight of heavy mortgages cannot damp that feeling sometimes described as "not knowing themselves." After the congested conditions of the house in Ijari's Court it is a delight to have room-to do things in ordered fashion. There are about two acres of land, for one thing, and there is thus room for the staff and the babies to breathe. The society, however, requiren great faith, for though it has the freehold of the property, there are many thousands of pounds yet to pay. The nurses, too, have sleeping aecorrrmotLatiou on two flats in a hostelry owned by the Prudential Society, and the rent for this is high. When the money m available a nurses' home will be built on the property andi adjacent to the house. Highgate Tube station is on the flat. From-this central point ati electric tram climbs one of London's steepest hills, and after less than a half-mile climb the tram passes Cromwell House. Incidentally, on the way up the hill one sees Dick Whittington's stone. It is a small worn monument commemorating the fact that the possessor of this immortal name was thrice Lord Mayor of London. On the first day that tho new centre was opened to outpatients, thirty-nine mothers with babies arrived. It was thus quite evidont that tho change and the ■ formidable hill was going to make no difference to tho popttlarity of the centre.

Kemarkable Transformations. Once upon a' timo ; no doubfc, tho house stood alone in wide open gardens. To-day it fronts the steep highway. On each side afe more modern brick 'houses, but the picturesque old brick mansion stands out in vivid contrast. On the right hand side is an archway once used for the family coach. A notice directs the outpatients through to the back of the house. Here a notable transformation has been accomplished. A one-storev length of building on one side of the yard square was until recently a series of unkempt disused Btables. Now it is the outpatients' department, fitted up on the very latest lines. At one end is a large waitingroom. Patients pass through a door to the consulting-room, thence to another well-fitted room where they receive recipes and instructions, and from 'there to the store bureau. It is not unlike a large ticket box. Hero they buy their supply of New Zealand cream, 4001b of which is disposed of each week to aid in the manufacture of humanised milk. Having thus passed through the requisite'" stages, the outpatients make their exit to the yard again. Access, however, may also be had directly into the main building. ■ ■ A still more interesting 'transformation is on the roof of these old stables. The roof has been made flat. At the back of the roof a solid brick wall rises to some 14 feet. For half-way overhead there is a roof of green-tinted glass, and when necessity arises the rest of the sun room may be shaded with curtains. The background is painted ai pleasant green. Here the sun, when it is visible at all, shines from the earliest dawn until an hour or two before sunset. There is space to . accommodate every baby in the home oti this open-air roof, and plenty of room beside. To • fit up the sun roof cost £3OO/ and £285 of this was collected from the readers of the "Women's Pictorial," to which --& matron contributes an article on ','Mothercraft" each week. An entirely new building has been put up outside as well. This is an up-to-date laundry with boiler-room attached. Hot water is always available. There is a drying room aoid an airing room and a special stove for heating irons. Thus the enormous amount of clothing that had to go to the laundry can pass through promptly without dependence on the weather.

The Connoisseur's Delight On entering the main building, one's interest in mothercraft ceases for the time being. First there is the ancientoak stairway which would gladden the heart of anyone with an eye for beauty. Some connoisseurs perhaps would consider the price of the house a small one if only they could convey the stairway intact to some other site. The banisters of solid oak are beautifully carved, and on the top of, each angle post is a wooden figure of on© of Cromwell's Roundhead supporters. Tho room now used as a dining-room for the nurses is oak-pannelled, but some vandal of unknown date has dared to paint over the natural oak. It would take £7O to restore it to its proper beauty, and funds will not allow for this at present. A smaller room at the back, used as the matron's office, is in its original state—oak-pannelled* from floor to ceiling. The ceilings on the ground floor and the first floor belong to a pattern which is not attempted in these modern times.

"Up-to-Date Appointments. Considerable expense has been incurred in bringing the downstairs kitchen and offices thoroughly np to date. In fact, the whole house has been completelv renovated from top to bottom. The kitchen is well lighted and well appointed, and there is ample space A central heating arrangement has been installed, and a tank of hot water is always ready for the needs of the household, water being laid on to every room.

On the first floor .ire the milk kn>chen and the milk-cooling room. Both are protected-from intruding flies bycopper gauze wire over part of tbe window. There is the mothers 3 room where instructions are given regarding the handling and bathing of babies. At this time of tie year tins is heated ■vrith a radiator. The three large dormitories, however, are not artificially heated, and the pore air of the northern hills circulates freely through theni. Tbe sun roof is easily accessible from the first floor, and the infant patients will snend most of their days outside. On the second floor are four rooms for nursing mothers. There is the sister's room and the matron's small flat the sitting-room of which looks on to a flat roof from -which on a clear day the southern parts of London may be seen fourteen miles away. The third storey is occupied by the maids. The object in (view is to make provision for 25 babies and for 25 nurses. A small section of the house on the further «de of the archway has been set aside for an isolation ward. Arrangements for easy escape in case of fire are proTi<tod - , . ■ ■* ~ Although there are-private houses on each side, Cromwell House has an unobstructed wew in the rear over the

private grounds of the property, and on the. opposite side of the main road in front. is Waterlow Park —beautiful grounds which have come into the possession of the Corporation. By taking over this valuable property to carry on the work begun by Sir Frederick Truby King some years ago, tho Mothercraft Training Society have shown their marvellous faith in the success of the movement. That their faith will be justified goes without saying, but for some years to come they will have an anxious time in meeting their heavy financial responsibilities. i