Newcastle's Infantile Paralysis Hostel

The First in the world

Article published in the Newcastle Sunday Sun, September 23rd, 1954, by Harold Williamson

MR. JOSEPH FISHER, a Newcastle business man, wrote to the headquarters of the Infantile Paralysis Fellowship in London asking to become a member. He had contracted polio during war service in India and was left with a paralysed hand. The reply came, "Why not start a branch of the Fellowship in Newcastle?" That was more than he had bargained for, but he took the job on.

That was six years ago, and yesterday the branch he formed made news when its £13,000 hostel and training centre was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle. It is the first place of its kind, anywhere in the world. America, which is as polio-conscious as any country, raises huge sums of money and aids polio victims individually. In other parts of the country there are holiday homes. But nowhere else is there a place in which polios can live and learn a trade.

The hostel has been set up because of a belief that no polio victim is unemployable. However severe the degree of infirmity, there is some work, somewhere, which they can do.

SELF-RESPECT

No one knows better than the handicapped man or woman that work is the backbone of self- Respect, so it is self-respect more than anything else that the hostel and training centre has to offer. What a delightful place it is, with its contemporary furniture and fittings; its rolling lawn and suntrap gardens. Visitors yesterday were able to look into the kitchen which cost £1000 to equip, the games room for adults and the play room for children who can stay there and be looked after all day.

Outside members have a sitting room of their own. There is a room for business meetings and the residents have a sitting room shortly to be equipped with a television. There is accommodation for 12 polio sufferers, which can be up to 20 as required. In each room there is a wash basin with hot and cold water, an electric wall heater, a razor socket, a bed light and an emergency bell push with a divan bed, easy chair and wardrobe. Two of the ten bedrooms are able to take married couples and four of them have sliding doors for easy access with wheel-chairs. A lift connects the two floors

Where did the money come from for this magnificent project? From King's College Rag Appeal of two years ago, when a record sum of £13.322 was raised, the last occasion on which all the money from the Rag went to one organisation.

With this money a former dwelling-house 1, Lindisfarne Road, Jesmond. Newcastle. was bought and adapted. Both the quantity surveyor and the architect gave their services free, and the kitchen was fitted out at about half cost after an appeal had been made to manufacturers and dealers for the best possible terms Everyone knows about the activities of the Newcastle branch of the Fellowship, but only a handful remember the beginnings It started in a hotel room which was booked for monthly meetings. About a score of people attended that first meeting, for it was an opportunity to talk together. For a year they had no equipment, no activities, no games, but there was hope in being banded together and there were dreams of better things to come. What came in February 1951, was their first headquarters-two rooms in the Royal Arcade, Pilgrim Street. Unaided, the polio victims—men and women— scrubbed, cleaned and painted the place, ran up curtains and moved in furniture. Unaided! From then on the branch set out to make money and success was with them all the way. They ran a ball and made £250 profit. King's College Arts Ball was devoted to the branch, and a record figure of £175 went into their kitty. They launched an annual garden party and the sun shone and the money they made they saved—because they had a dream that some day they would have a real centre .... The conception is the boldest bid by the branch to find polio victims and help them. Bold in that people they want to assist are apt to shun fellowship, for Infantile paralysis affects the healthy as well as the weak. It is a cruel complaint bearing an ugly and misleading name. Those it strikes hardest are neither infants nor infantile. All too often they are grown-ups enjoying apparently perfect health. The paralysis they are afflicted by is usually of the arms or legs and the only consolation is that their minds are frequently quickened. Five months after the Newcastle branch was formed a membership of 100 was welded together, making It possible to take effective united action with Government departments and other bodies.

It has brought those who need advice and assistance in touch with the people best able to give them. A point which is stressed over and over again is that the fellowship is not a charity, but is one of the few associations run by the disabled for the disabled, though a good percentage of its members are sympathisers. Help comes to the sufferers in a variety of ways. One recently went on a holiday to Devon which she had considered beyond her reach, because she needed an invalid chair. By an arrangement with London headquarters she was met at King's Cross, taken to a taxi in an invalid chair and another member repeated the process at Waterloo Station. A member coming out ol hospital after a leg amputation was presented with an invalid chair, one of several the branch had standing by for such a case

PLANNING CAREERS

Child members are particularly welcome, because, it is felt, parents become resigned to them being helpless forever, but this is not so. Careers can be planned and if financial assistance cannot come directly from the local branch headquarters can be approached for large amounts. At the new headquarters members aged from two years to 60 are able to meet regularly and follow a variety of activities which are offered. There is a youth club and a women's handicrafts section. Children's outings, Christmas parties and holiday weekends are planned. The swimming club has had its first gala and there is the Sunday night concert, darts matches and table tennis competitions. The branch boasts more than 400 members, who are leading happy and useful lives.