BRITISH DAY NURSERIES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30275, 30 October 1963, Page 2

BRITISH DAY NURSERIES

Aid To Women At Work

Working mothers in England can pay to have their children cared for during the entire working day at a day nursery, so that the youngsters go home only to sleep, according to Lady Mullens, wife of Sir Harold Mullens, a British industrialist. If both parents work, the charge is 7s a day, and 4s if there is only one parent. “Parents cannot use the nursery just because they want a rest from their children,” Lady Mullens said in an interview in Christchurch yesterday. "They must be working or in real need.” Opening at 7 a.m., the nurseries provided breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The children, divided into two main age groups, were brought by their parents on the way to work, and collected on the way home. They had a rest period and instructive play. The nurseries took only children up to school age. Problems began after the child began school, for while he could get a hot meal there at midday. Lady Mullens said, she did not know of any organisation which provided a fill-in between the time school closed and his parents returned from work. The children either had their own house keys or went to a neighbour’s house. Lady Mullens is on the committee of a day nursery in her home town of Newcastle. An annual grant was received from the city corporation, but it was primarily a voluntary, non-profit concern. It was staffed by a matron and staff nurse, both trained nurses, and three assistants. Similar nurseries were run by the corporation.

At the ripe old age of 109, Piet Korns likes to sit in the sun each day outside his room at New la nds, Johannesburg with a tin of chewing tobacco he was given for his birthday.—Reuter.