A SPECTATO R'S NOTEBOOK
THE Peckham Health Centre had the time of its life on Monday when Queen Mary, the Prime Minister, various other Ministers, greater and less, and the Oni of Ife went first to see Paul Rotha's film of the Centre's activities and then to the Centre itself to dis- cover how far the film reflected realities. Of the various distinguished visitors, the Oni of Ife, who is the spiritual head of the Yorubas of Nigeria, was decidedly the most impressive in his black-and-gold fez (I doubt whether it was a fez, but I know no other description to fit) and his flowing robes and his engaging smile. The surprising thing is that this notable experiment, of now more than twenty years' standing, should not have been copied elsewhere in the United Kingdom. It is not, of course, a Health Centre within the meaning of the Health Service Act. It is rather a large family club, the purpose of which is preventive rather than remedial on the medical side. The basic condition of membership, therefore, is that every member shall undergo a medical examination at the Centre once a year. On Monday all the activities were in full swing, undisturbed by the austere presence of Sir Stafford Cripps, the benignant presence of Mr. Tomlinson, or anything else at all. The swimming-bath was crowded, so was the children's gymnasium, billiards and snooker were going strong in one room and dancing in another. Only the babies were rather thin on the ground ; it was getting a little late for them. It was a singularly well-organised evening, and the medical heads of the Centre, Dr. Scott Williamson and Dr. Innes Pearce, must have enlisted sympathies well-merited and possibly profitable.
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