From the archive: Community needs, 7 August, 1950

Published on 07/08/2012 00:00

AFTER remarking that we talk rather glibly of the Welfare State nowadays, Mr Hector McNeil, Secretary of State for Scotland, said in Edinburgh that hospitals and institutions would retain their character only so far as the community and its citizens were prepared to address themselves to the needs of each of those institutions.

He spoke at a luncheon in the City Chambers given to members of the Edinburgh Charities Day Committee and officials and players of the Newcastle United Football Club. The Newcastle team played an Edinburgh Select XI in the afternoon. Lord Provost Sir Andrew Murray who presided, said the citizens of Edinburgh very much appreciated the work of the Charities Day Committee. This was the tenth match organised by the Committee and £50,000 had been gathered and distributed, to charities – a substantial contribution to the sum of human happiness within the city worthy of recognition.