[Report 1953] / Medical Officer of Health, Christchurch Borough.

  • Christchurch (Dorset, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1953
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1953] / Medical Officer of Health, Christchurch Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/52 (page 12)
    ICE CREAM: Ice cream continues to be sampled regularly throughout the warmer months of the year. The results of the Methylene Blue Test are now seldom unsatisfactory, and it is a far cry from only a few years ago when a substantial proportion of the samples were graded unsatisfactory. In this past year not one single sample fell into the unsatisfactory grades The number of retailers is now 105. The following table shows the results of the Methylene Blue Test over the past seven years:— Ice Cream Samples since 1947. Result of Methylene Blue Test. No. of Satisfactory. Unsatisfactory. Year {Samples 1 Grade 1. Grade 2. Grade 3. Grade 4 1947 53 7.5% 20.8% 22.6% 49.1% 1948 72 19.4% 29.2% 32.0% 19.4% 1949 136 48.5% 29.4% 15.5% 6.6% 1950 160 70.0% 19.4% 6.9% 3.7% 1951 88 93.2% 5.7% — 1.1% 1952 107 79.4% 15.0% 2.8% 2.8% 1953 156 85.3% 14.7% — — SCHOOLS: There has been no notable change or improvement in the con- dition of the overcrowded schools throughout the Borough. The new Junior School at Somerford, due to be completed early in 1954, will to a considerable extent relieve the situation at Addis- combe Road and Mudeford,. but there still remains the grossly overcrowded Senior School which must so remain until completion of the new Senior School at Somerford. School meals are available at all schools, cooked in kitchens on the school premises. Cooks and food handlers are given special instruction in hygienic food practices. CHILD WELFARE: The County Council continues to run two Child Welfare Centres in the area, one in the Health Centre at Millhams Street, held each Tuesday, and the other at St. Mark’s Hall, Highcliff, held on the afternoon of the third Friday in each month. Each clinic is staffed by an Assistant County Medical Officer and by the area health visitors, and is run by a voluntary committee. In this connection it is interesting to note that at the Christchurch clinic a link with the early days of the pioneer Christchurch Child Welfare Society was severed during the year. The Society was formed under the Chairmanship of Miss Robinson in 1922. and Mrs. Whittingham, who became a member of the committee in 1926, was secretary from 1933 until she retired at the end of this year, after 27 years of devoted public service to the Society. Mrs. Emerson also retired after 23 years of service to the Society. I would wish here to pay a sincere tribute to the invaluable work of these ladies over many years. They are greatly missed.