Aged Appeal To Be Held

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31942, 20 March 1969, Page 16

Aged Appeal To Be Held

A wide range of services for aged persons in Christchurch, including a residential home, an ocupational centre, a gardening service and help from a welfare officer, as well as several new proposed services, will benefit from the Christchurch Aged People’s Welfare Council’s annual street appeal tomorrow.

The secretary of the council (Mrs M. E. Lawrie), said yesterday that collectors were needed for the appeal which would be held in the city area and in all the surrounding suburbs.

A stall run by the women’s committee of the council, will open in Cathedral Square at 8.30 a.m. and will sell produce including jams, preserves, cakes and sweets, and clothing. Last year about $4500 was raised from the appeal. At present there are 54 aged men and women in the council’s Langford House, at the corner of Durham and Battersea Streets. These persons range from about 60 to 95, with seven over 90. Mrs Lawrie said about 360 persons were being helped through the council’s occupational centre in Orbell Street. Classes in various forms of handwork, including rugmaking, basket weaving and the making of trays are held each morning and afternoon, three days a week. Eighty persons are brought

to the centre each week by voluntary drivers and another 80 are visited in their own homes by the five staff members.

A gardening service started by the council several years ago, has expanded rapidly recently, and there is now one full-time gardener and a number of part-time helpers, as well as a special van and gardening equipment. Mrs Lawrie said that this service was available to any aged person who needed help.

In the last few years several social clubs have been started for aged persons in Christchurch with the help of the council. When they are able to support themselves they are run by their own committees. Mrs Lawrie said that the work of the part-time welfare officer was an important feature of the council. This officer met aged persons in their own homes or at the council’s centre in Cashel Street to discuss with them their problems. particularly accommodation problems. Last September five sections in Cashel Street and Cambridge Terrace, including three houses, mainly converted to flats, were purchased by the council with a view to expanding existing services and establishing new ones. Mrs Lawrie said that no plans had been made yet, but possible services might be occupational work, physiotherapy and chiropody. The photograph shows the director of the occupational centre, Mrs J. Schofield (standing) with a class of women.