THE FOUNDLING SITE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Is it impossible to secure for all time the whole of the Foundling site as a playground for thousands of London 'children ?
When I worked in American Relief organizations for child welfare in Europe after the War I had unrivalled opportunities of seeing what other countries were doing for the health and liapPiness of their children and in places to see how much they were ahead of us in certain respects, notably in the provision of open-air play centres.
In Berlin, for instance, I visited a series of large playgrounds,
In which I saw thousands of children enjoying themselves and 'growing strong. These grounds were provided with shelters, a kitchen and an open-air stage of banked-up earth. Even in term time eighteen thousand of the snore delicate children were sent there for the day, daily, and received there a modified forth of education. I saw numbers of other playgrounds, children's colonies and holiday homes, and realized the great iniportance that was attached by those in authority to open-air life. and recreation for the rising generation. I felt saddened bY the thought of how little in comparison we in England seemed to value the health and happiness of our town-bred boys and girls, the future citizens of this nation. Why should we lag behind others ?
Have we not a unique opportunity for promoting the welfare of our children by acquiring the Foundling Site am, Sir, SILVIA COWLES.
Isis Club, 79 Fitzjohn's Avenue, Hampstead, N.W. 8.
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