Mary Morris - Voluntary Work in the Welfare State

PUBLIC POLICY, WELFARE AND SOCIAL WORK

In 18 Volumes

First published in 1969 by

Routledge

Reprinted in 1998, 2001 by

Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2007

1969 Mary Morris

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Voluntary Work in the Welfare State

ISBN 0-415-17729-4
ISBN 978-1-136-26420-7 (ePub)

Public Policy, Welfare and Social Work: 18 Volumes

ISBN 0-415-17831-2

The International Library of Sociology: 274 Volumes

ISBN 0-415-17838-X

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent

I should like first to thank the late Mr. G. R. Dalby, Lecturer in the Department of Adult Education and Extra-Mural Studies in the University of Leeds, for all the help he has given me. I came to rely on his knowledge of voluntary work and on his sound judgment when we were working together on a previous book, Social Enterprise, and was therefore delighted when he agreed to read the first draft of this book. I have found his comments and criticisms most helpful.

The survey of voluntary work in Bradford described in Appendix III was carried out by students in the School of Social Studies in Applied Social Studies in the University of Bradford under the supervision of Mr. J. W. McCulloch, Lecturer in Research Methods. I am most grateful to the students, and especially, of course, to Mr. McCulloch, who not only planned and supervised the survey but analysed the results and helped me to prepare the report. In this connection I should like to thank the Leverhulme Trustees for their generosity in making a grant to cover the expense of the students who conducted the interviews.

I have been fortunate in being allowed to use the Library at the National Institute for Social Work Training, and am greatly indebted to the Librarian, Mrs. E. M. Holliday, for her patience - and her success - in helping me to find the books and pamphlets I needed; and fortunate, too, in having the book typed by Mrs. Mollie Hargreaves, who, in addition to deciphering my typescript and often my illegible handwriting, took such an interest in the subject that she was able to help me check quotations, notes and references.

So many people have given me the benefit of their specialized knowledge that it would be difficult to mention them all individually. Much of the information on which the descriptive parts of the book are based has not been published and had to be obtained from the officers of the voluntary bodies concerned. They have given freely of their time in person or by correspondence and have generously allowed me to share their knowledge. In thanking everyone who has helped me in this way, I should like especially to mention Miss M. Bucke, secretary of the National Old Peoples Welfare Council, Mrs. D. Cane, secretary of the Central Churches Group, Miss E. R. Littlejohn, secretary of the Standing Conference of Councils of Social Service, Brigadier D. Meynell, secretary of the Standing Conference of National Voluntary Youth Organizations, and Miss N. Rice-Jones,- secretary of the British National Conference 011 Social Welfare, all of whom allowed me to learn from their experience, to have access to their files and even to use their offices while I was studying the material. I want also to record my debt to Miss Roche, the secretary of the Council of Social Service in Nottingham, who arranged for me to see at first hand some of the voluntary work being done in that city and who has kept me in touch with its development; and to Mr. R. K. Harrison, who allowed me to use material from his unpublished thesis.

To these and others who are closely involved in working with volunteers I owe a special debt, but the debt I owe to the volunteers themselves is even greater. For nearly forty years I have had the privilege of seeing volunteers at work over a wide field of social action. What I have learned from them led me to think it might be worth while to try and describe the extent and the value of voluntary work, and to them, therefore, my deepest thanks are due.