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BID TO GET A SOCIAL H.Q. FOR HANDICAPPED CITY CHILDREN
(From The Star, around 1960)
Sheffield parents of mentally handicapped children plan to start a social centre for the youngsters -
if they can find suitable premises.
At the moment the gallant mothers and fathers who run the Sheffield Society for Mentally Handicapped Children have to
confine their work to weekly sessions in a hired room. They have been looking for possible headquarters since the society was formed 10 years ago.
Classes
About 90 children are helped by the society, but there are still many parents of backward children who have not joined.
Secretary Mrs. R. Bond, of Fulwood Road, told the Star: We have had to refuse offers of pianos and other gifts because we have nowhere to put them.
Last year my husband and I looked over at least 10 premises, but they were either not big enough or too expensive. We would
like at least one big room and several smaller rooms for an office and committee meetings.
A great many mentally handicapped children take advantage of the Corporation's daily occupational classes.But,
says Mrs. Bond,although the classes are very good in their way, we consider physical recreation just as important, and that is why a
social centre where we could form, say, a Guide or Scout troop, would be a wonderful thing.
Prejudice
She went on: We are up against constant prejudice and selfishness. Parents of backward kiddies are looked down upon, and
so are the children themselves. Being mentally behind is nobody's fault. If only we could get normal people to
adopt a kinder attitude to them, part of the problem would be solved.
I have always thought that backward and normal children should meet each other. That would help to fight all
this shyness and frustration.
A lot of people seem to think that being mentally backward means being violent. That is completely untrue, though naturally
like most children, they are liable to the occasional tantrum.
Concert
The society relies entirely on subscriptions and public donations. On Friday evening , at Nether congregational Chapel,
Gleadless Ladies' Choir will give a concert in aid of the society.
FRIENDLY CENTRE FOR LONELY CHILDREN
by Sheila McGregor - slightly abridged
(from Sheffield Telegraph 24th March 1961)
One of the chief worries facing parents of mentally handicapped children is the fear that their child
will grow up feeling lonely and left out.
For these children, just as much as normal high-spirited youngsters, need the security and fun of
belonging in a group of friends.
Seven years of planning to provide a social life suited to their needs will culminate next month when the Sheffield Society
for Handicapped Children opens a new social centre in a large converted villa in Brunswick Street.
Widened
The centre will concentrate under one roof activities which have had to be held till now in hired halls. And the
scope of the children's interests qwill be widened. In addition to the present games, dancing and gym lessons, they will have
their own playroom. There will be a special games room for the boys, and sewing classes and possibly a Girl Guide Company for the girls.
One of the people who has worked hardest to make the centre possible is the Secretary Mrs. rena Bond, who shares and understands
the special problems confronting parents.
Wrong
In the past, many of these children suffered under a stigma, she says. They were often ostracised by neighbours and ignored by other children,
so naturally they grew up lonely and withdrawn. Because of this, people didn't realise how much they could be
helped.
But the classes we hold prove how wrong this view is. Some of the results are astounding. It has often been maintained that it is impossible
to teach these children to co-ordinate eyes and limbs. Yet at the physical education class some of them have done so well that they
have learned to somersault.
Other children who used to be so shy that they refused to speak, have been gradually drawn out by joining in
games and square dancing, and now they are the liveliest in the class.
Comfort
Through their play the children can be given what you might call a code of living. They can be taught the
social graces and some can even be taught to find their way around town.
Progress is naturally slow, but the new centre is a wonderful step forward.
Parents too will be greatly helped at the centre.
Of course it is heartbreaking for a mother to be told that her baby is mentally handicapped. But it is worse if she feels that she
is completely alone in the problem. Often new parents when they join us are depressed at first. Monthly meetings and lectures help them, but the biggest
comfort is to talk over problems with other parents who understand and sympathise.
The new centre, which has been planned since 1953, was bought with money from a legacy plus donations. Alterations
have converted it into a bright cheerful building. The children's playroom, which will also be used for
parents' meetings, is decorated in sunshine yellow. Another room has been partitioned to provide an office and a small
meeting room. Downstairs, in what was formerly cellars, there is a boys' games room and a bright modern kitchen and tea bar.
The top floor has been converted into a flat for a residential caretaker.
1962 (from a local paper)
One of the good things to emerge from the post-war world is the acceptance by society of the mentally handicapped child,
said Mrs. Rena Bond, secretary of the Sheffield Society for Mentally Handicapped Children, and herself
the mother of a 19-year-old handicapped boy. At one time my husband and I were shunned. But things are different now.
Founded twelve years ago with a membership of 20 parents who met at Hillsborough School for the Educationally Subnormal, this 120 strong
club is soon to have its own £2000 hall. Last March, after years of meeting in hired rooms, the society moved into Brunswick Street. The new hall, which is expected to
be ready for use next month, will be built in the garden of the society's present headquarters.
The erection of the new hall - a precast concrete building - will leave them stony broke . So Bazaars, draws and dances will once again get into
swing to swell the club's funds and put them on a sound financial footing.
Sheffield-born Mrs. Bond finds her work so absorbing that it leaves her very little free time. But when she looks around at today's parents
of handicapped children, she knows her work has been worthwhile.
Parents these days look far less worried and harassed. I think it is because people have come to
accept the handicapped child. It is a disability for which no-one can be held responsible.
Late teens
As you would imagine, parents of handicapped children form the hardcore of membership, but there is a good
number of youngsters in their teens. This doesn't tie up with the oft-heard statement that today's jazz-crazed youth care not a jot for their country's social conditions.
Ex-soccer star to open new centre
(from The Star 19th May 1962)
A new £3000 centre for mentally handicapped children is to be opened in Sheffield by the former Sheffield Wednesday footballer, Derek Dooley.
The centre, a pre-fabricated building , has been erected on land at the rear of the Sheffield Mentally Handicapped Children's Society's main premises in Brunswick Street.
Since the Society acquired a detached house in Brunswick Street as their headquarters in 1960 the volume of work has increased greatly and the need for a hall of their own became essential.
The new hall, which is 20 feet by 80 feet, will provide accommodation for pysical education classes, socials and all the society's money raising efforts and social events.
Wider scope
Mrs. Bond, the secretary, told the star:The new premises will provide us with a much wider scope for our work.
First, we shall be able to have more training and social sessions for the children and secondly it will provide us with the
means to hold our own fundraising functions.
Other guests will include Ald. Mrs. Patience Sheard, chairman of Sheffield Health Committee, and Mrs. Judy
Frudd, national founder member of the Society. Also present will be Mr. F. Turner, area manager of Banbury Buildings Ltd., who erected the hall.
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