This photograph, taken in 1975, provides a general view of East Park Home for Infirm Children and playground from Maryhill Road. Founded in 1874, East Park Home is a registered charity which continues in 2004 to provide services to children with disabilities and their families, with accommodation in twenty-six single rooms.
The disabilities from which children suffer have changed over the years. Emotional and psychological disturbance and dietary deficiencies are more likely to be causes for admission rather than malnourishment, tuberculosis, rickets and other crippling diseases which were common around 1900.
East Park has derived income from donations, legacies, deeds of covenant, sponsorship, and the generosity of businesses and the people of Glasgow. Royalty and stars of sport and show business have often been associated with fund raising activities. On a Wednesday every June, the sound of blaring horns and the sight of decorated taxis reminds the citizens that it is the day of the annual outing for disabled children, as children are taken to Troon by Glasgow taxi drivers who have taken a day off work.
Reference: Heatherbank Museum of Social Work, print 953
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow Caledonian University, Research Collections, Heatherbank Museum of Social Work
Keywords:
charities, children with special needs, children's homes, disabled children, diseases, East Park Home for Infirm Children, fund raising, hospitals
, mental health, public health, social welfare, taxi drivers, taxis