Maternity and Child Welfare in 1930's Bermondsey - film screening and presentation

During the 1920s and 1930s, Bermondsey Borough Council embarked on a progressive public health campaign under the banner Better Than Cure. Working and living conditions in Bermondsey were very poor and preventable diseases like diphtheria were still a problem. Encouraged by MP for Bermondsey Dr Alfred Salter and the first female elected Mayor for Bermondsey, Ada Salter, the council set about changing the way health services were provided to promote their message and set a precedent as the first borough in the UK to show public health films on a range of subjects including, disease, cleanliness and immunisation. The council made around 30 films, of which about 20 survived. They were shown in municipal halls, doctor’s surgeries, schools and from ‘cinemotors’ which were vans with a screen at the rear. These cinemotors would show films in the streets all over the borough and were particularly effective at driving home the message of health to its younger residents.

The film ‘Maternity and Child Welfare’, is essentially two films – part one concentrates on care for newborn baby and the second part focusses on the toddler stage and includes film of Fairby Grange, the convalescent home for new mothers. The films have a no-nonsense approach giving guidance and clear instructions on how washing, clothing and breast feeding should be done. The films use old fashioned terms we would not use today and may be seen as patronising. However, discussions could perhaps be had about the practices used in child welfare from the 1930s. What, if anything, can we learn about child welfare from this time?

Free. No need to book. Refreshments available.