On This Day, 7 September 1918

Birmingham Mail

Saturday 7 September 1918

THE TRAINING OF DISABLED SOLDIERS.

BIRMINGHAM EXHIBITION.

The Inter-Allied Exhibition, under the auspices of the Birmingham Citizens’ Committee, will be opened at the Town Hall on Monday next by Mr. John Hodge, M.P., the Minister of Pensions. The exhibition is of a comprehensive character, and shows the steps which have been taken by the Governments of Great Britain and Allied countries with regard to the after-care of disabled men and their training for industrial life.

The exhibits are extremely interesting. They have been sent from various parts of the United Kingdom – there are many local contributions – and from France, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Canada, and South Africa. The displays of surgical and scientific instruments from the Continent are of surpassing interest. The authorities of France appear to have specialised in the production of appliances for disabled agricultural and industrial workers.

At many stalls disabled soldiers will be seen at work: loom workers, making tweeds; leather operatives from Walsall Technical School, producing wallets and purses; diamond polishers and setters, and jewellers and silversmiths from the Vittoria Street Jewellery School, Birmingham; and dental mechanics and jewellery workers from London. There is a big display of woodwork made by South African soldiers at the Richmond Hospital. In the basement of the Town Hall 30 men from the Hollymoor and the Highbury Hospitals will be seen at work splint-making and engaged at lathes and carpenters’ benches. An Italian stall illustrates cinematic amputation. It shows the utilisation of the muscles of the stump of an arm or leg to actuate artificial limbs.