The Centre (1948)

[Music] if you're in London one way of getting to the center is to go to the houses of Parliament and here almost at the foot of Big Ben you can catch a number 35 trm which will take you over the river Tims across Westminster bridge and into South London after about half an hour through factories and crowded streets you come to pekam and here just off the main road you find a quite different kind of Street quiet and tree line it's not a slum area but a residential district before the war families lived here with incomes from £100 to perhaps £22,000 a year and in spite of the bombing this family life still goes on here you will find the center the Pioneer Health Center started before the war by private initiative and with private funds it still carries on although the building was used as a factory during the War years it is designed and equipped as a family Club a place where the whole family can come to enjoy their Leisure after the day's work first come the children after school there's plenty of space for them to amuse themselves and all kinds of exciting things for them to do if they want to be quiet they can borrow paints or books or puzzles and sit in the Sun Lounge later in the day the older members of the family arrive from housework and shopping cues from offices and factories from working to living people don't kill time at the center they use time they acquire physical and mental health they can do what they like when they like as they like and in this way the center becomes a community of families and not just a mass of individuals but there is another side to it the scientific side the directors and their staff are really biologists studying the actions and the behavior of families and the building has been designed with big spaces and glass partitions so that the staff can come into the closest touch with members and watch how each family makes use of the place the members are in fact cooperating in a unique piece of research into social biology whether they like to rush about on roller skates or whether they prefer just to sit quietly in the sun everything they do in the center is of real scientific interest so here in a corner of Southeast London is this private voluntary Enterprise existing alongside the government Health scheme independent of it but supplementing it now let's look at it from another angle late one Saturday afternoon in Winter a new family is coming to the center for the first time they are the Joneses they are new to the neighborhood and don't know anybody yet but young Johnny has heard so much about the center from his school friends that he's made his parents come along with him to see what it's like one of the staff will show them round it's a big place so she'll try to find out what particularly interests each one of them Moren Jones is attracted by the toddlers Johnny wants to see the gym [Music] Fred Jones likes the look of the darts Club but he's even more interested in the bilard tables at the other end of the room and they all like the cafeteria hello Mrs Jones I'm Dr Scott Williamson how you do I'm Dr Pierce well you've been around and had a look at it what do you think of it right good we always like to meet our member families when they join because we like to tell them what we're trying to do and what we are trying to do is to study Health find out what health is and stren enough this is the first time that's ever been tackled so when you walk around your family Club you're really looking so much to take in on a first visit the newcomers have to go back home and think it all over what was the lady doctor's name Fred you mean Dr Pierce yes I was thinking about some of the things she said that's why you join as a family not as individuals you see we've already discovered that Health isn't just a matter of having nothing wrong with you it has to do with vitality and the full growth and development of the family as a whole so if for instance you were going to have another baby we should like to keep in the closest touch with you so that you could get easily all the knowledge you need to give the child its fullest inheritance of Health Fred I wonder mommy what on Earth are you doing up can you swim momy yes I used to Dear but not for a long time I'm going to learn when I Jo in that place would you treat me Daddy hold on young man we haven't joined yet anyway you should have been asleep an hour ago go on off you go good night Dad good night d the first thing we have to do is to find out how much health you each have and that is the meaning of our only condition of membership the annual Health Examination for everyone in the family so if you decide to join before anything else happens to you you must make an appointment for each member of your family to come for a First Health overhaul in this examination the scientists are looking for what's right because that's something positive on which to build they'll tell the new family about everything that's right but also about anything that's wrong this will happen when they all come together for the first family consultation with the doctors Johnny has dealt with first then he's sent away and the parents remain behind together to hear what has been discovered about each of them there you are Mrs Jones you picked a good busy 100% husband and 100% son and you're not so bad yourself Dr P me yes that's quite true but before I tell you about everything we found I'm going to deal with that beake you told me about when you came into your overhaul I think we found the cause of that oh that's fine I remember you told me it came after your baby was born yes when I examined you internally I found a misplacement a quite common thing to find after bad confinement it's not a serious thing at all and something you can have put right either by a slight operation or by a rather te form of treatment we were thinking doctor now that we've joined the center well we would like another baby yes of course you can have another baby Mrs Jones was obviously quite unprepared to face the fact that she needed treatment and she's taking it badly so many people think they're quite fit yet so few of them really are the center's record show that out of every 20 adult women only one is absolutely fit and normal and Mrs Jones is one of of the other 19 she has been told that what's wrong with her isn't serious but the sudden shock has raised a conflict in her mind she doesn't know whether to believe the doctors or not this kind of thing does happen sometimes but it would be fatal to interfere we just have to wait and see what happens and we were able to do that with Mrs Jones because she did go on coming to the center simply to keep an eye on Johnny mommy yes please M have some paints out what in those clothes Fred Jones settled down from the first and he began to find the friends he needed so badly he used to play darts a good deal but his best game was snooker congratulations a very nice game thank you you better it joh but young Johnny was a problem for he was obviously far too much of a mother's Boy again we never interfere in a case like that we just waited and left it to Johnny himself after this episode Mrs Jones just gave up and never came to the center at all then Johnny began to come on his own and he took to wearing sensible clothes too we noticed that when his father was on night Duty the two of them used to spend the afternoons together in the center usually in the children's swimming bath and that had its effect on Fred Jones he hadn't used the big bath much when they first joined obviously there was nothing wrong with them but we guessed that all was not well at home you didn't go through what I had to go through having Johnny you can't imagine what it's like but I don't want you to go through any of that again darling I only want you to get well and strong like you used to be well I won't get well and strong having an operation mother knows people who've had about 13 and they aren't any better but Dr Pierce said I don't care what Dr Pierce said you think a lot of what they say don't you yes I do well I don't and I think they're cranks I'll go to Mom's doctor at Kingston if you want me to but I'm not going to that place anymore look darling oh be careful don't worry about that let's go out tonight let's go to a dance but you've always said you can't dance I know I have but you used to like dancing didn't you yes I did and I'm certain you could teach me anyway I'd have a try but but why tonight there's a dance at the center tonight can't you stopped talking about the center for 2 minutes it's Center Center Center all day long and Johnny is as bad as you are can't you see how I hate the place or you go to your beastly dance go on only leave me alone for goodness [Music] sake then Fred cornered me one night at a dance club dance he wanted my help to get his wife to come for another consultation with Dr Pierce I had to tell him that we never put compulsion on anybody it was up to her and him and then he stopped coming to the center regularly but we knew he hadn't given up altogether because he still came once a week to pay the family subscription we didn't ask him any questions and he kept us close as a oyster all the same we we couldn't help wondering what luck he was having at home wouldn't you like to go out tonight dear it's too late for the pictures nowhere else to go really no I suppose not why don't you go to the center I've told you I'm not going to that place anymore unless you come too so You' better get that quite clear you do miss the center terribly don't you darling oh not much it's nice to be at home quite like old times Fred Yes dear Fred I've been thinking and then at last one day in April Mor and Jones turned up again to see Dr Pierce this time she listened to what was being said and I think she realized she had made a mistake anyway she decided to go to the hospital and get a second opinion and then she determined to have the operation luckily we managed to get her a bed reasonably quickly a fortnight later she was back at the center hello Johny this time it was Johnny who was in charge good after hello Mrs H hello John this is my mommy hello that was a good sign but soon we noticed something even more encouraging she started to come with her husband in the evenings they began to make new friends and through these friends she found a new interest at badminton not right at the end I say yes and you drop it onto the racket you see like this she may have felt strange on a bedminton court but she was certainly quite at home in the swimming bar as for that husband of her he was the man who told me he didn't like dancing R FR our penist has written another dance number for wal this time I hope you'll like it so come along let's see everybody on the floor now for the cent of [Music] wals in fact we became rather proud of that family and especially of Moren [Music] Jones her record card was now a most satisfactory picture of her progress from something wrong to nothing wrong then at the end of November a further examination confirmed that she was going to have another baby this is a time when both parents need all the information that the scientists can give and they grow more and more eager to make use of it so parental consultations are arranged from time to time to meet their needs as they may arise the wife concerned with the Practical problems of the coming baby finds her way up to the infant's Nursery there she meets the sister in charge who shows her patterns she becomes interested in maternity clothes and the leet small babies need much less fussing than many people think and here even those mothers who are already have children can find out for themselves that a small baby doesn't need to be tied down to its mother the whole time for the mother pregnancy is a time when she becomes even more deeply involved in the life of the center often finding new outlets for her growing strength and vitality War Jones kept in wonderful trim every Fortnight she came to the laboratory where we could taste her Fitness and to consultations where she could hear the story of what was going on as the baby grew meanwhile Johnny was completely weaned from his mother's Apron Strings and nobody was more pleased about that than Moren herself passing months brought her increasing Serenity and happiness her husband shared all this with her and their companionship became closer than ever let us dance together always smile and never mind the rain jary June we can harm this little [Music] tune at the center an expectant mother inevitably meets other mothers and she can share their ideas and experience such personal contacts reinforce the facts she gathers from the staff facts about clothes feeding and the general management of her child and always as the life of the family develops their social contacts widen their circle of friends expands they grow more and more deeply into the life of the community mothers with very young children can bring them to the center and leave them for an hour or two in a night nursery on special occasions such as a dance or a [Music] [Applause] concert sing it I I I I I I I [Applause] [Music] [Music] the [Music] how's Mor and Fred have you been to see her yet yes I saw her this morning for little file she was fine good and the baby she's wonderful too what are you going to call her we're going to call her Deanie yes to both of them Fred all the best Cheers Cheers Cheers marine and Deanie [Music] and