Ghost of Christmas past

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33121, 11 January 1973, Page 5

Ghost of Christmas past

(By MICH Al LONDON, January 10. The lonely deaths of ’ two elderly women, and J the publicity given to a third sitting down to I lunch of a piece of lard j—her only food—have i stirred the conscience of ■ Britain over the holiday I season. ; i At a time when the bigjgest problem for most • people is a surfeit of turkey, • plum pudding and alcohol, it • made macabre reading to ■ open the newspapers and I find that . 68-year-old Mrs ’ Mary McCoy choked to death! \ trying to eat cardboard in ’ her maisonette in Liverpool., I Her death went undiscovered: J for three months. [j It also was not particu-! ~ larly pleasant to learn that •lit was two months before I anyone thought to check up! on Miss Barbara Nappin. a • 52-year-old spinster in Ports-! ; mouth, after she was no! . longer seen in her usual

r haunts. She was found dead ) in her bed with the television! , set still going and a huge! • pile of uncollected mail in! ! the front hall. Finally there was 83-year-' !old Lucy Sparrow, who was! I ! found by a friend just before j ■ Christmas barely able to! • move around her filthy pre- ! i fab house in Welling- [ I borough, Northamptonshire, j and reduced to lunching on! I lard while her starving! ginger cat, Jill, looked on. ’ The way in which old people slip through the social , security net is causing i increasing concern to both, . 1 the Government and local I authorities. Part of the problem lies .jwith the old people themLselves. Many are too i independent and proud to ■! take advantage of the welfare i schemes available. Others develop mental quirks living .'alone and become badtempered and difficult. CHILDREN AWAY With the increased mobility in modern society, which will probably become {more pronounced now that ' Britain is in the Common, 1 Market, children often move! away from the areas where they grew up. and their': parents in old age are thrown ■ ■ more on their own resources, i I Even allowing for all these <

EL ROBSON. N.Z.P.A. staff con . factors, it is agreed that , there should be some sort of “fail-safe” system which 1 alerts the authorities to the [ elderly who must be given help. . Official social services are 1 usually stretched to their : limits, and most local authorities see no hope of , monitoring every old person living alone, on anything like a frequent enough basis. j There is also resistance to i putting old people in instit tutions. Many far prefer to i , battle along on their own 1 . for as long as possible, sur- i rounded by familiar objects i ’■and able to come and go as I They wish. ■ ;l The answer to the problem i ,I favoured by most com- , ■mentators is increased neigh- ’ I bourliness. i ■ “We are well-known for ’ I: keeping ourselves to our- ] selves,” said Marjorie Proops s | in a front-page article in ia recent “Daily Mirror.” i ; “It’s time we changed our I withdrawn habits. It’s time • 'iwe started poking our noses ( I I into our old people’s affairs. 1 ! It’s time we started being 1 neighbours.” f

■respondent) The British reserve is no myth. In many suburbs it takes years to gain even nodding acceptance, and attempts to establish contact on the part of the new-comer are often rejected as “prying.” To overcome this natural barrier there is the suggestion that voluntary groups should be formed, or that women’s guilds or youth clubs should “adopt” a certain number of older residents with the object of! keeping a friendly eye open! for any emergencies which may arise. Camden Borough in London, in fact, has such a, scheme where pensioners are paid a small sum to visit the: very old on a regular basis’ to make sure that houses are warm, to assist with shopping, and sort out minor personal problems. In light of the recent tragedies it seems certain that efforts along these lines will be stepped up to try to ensure that “missing” women like Mrs McCoy and Miss Nappin are found in the future before it is too late.