Community3. The Family Planning Movement During the inter-war years women became involved in the family planning movement. Lady Hattie Fisher-Smith (the American born wife of the Halifax wire manufacturer, Alderman Sir George Henry Fisher-Smith) assembled a committee of ladies following an initiative from the National Birth Control Association. They applied to the local Medical Officer of Health for premises to start a family planning clinic in Halifax and their request was declined. Undaunted, on 10 October 1934, in the TOC H rooms at 32 Clare Road, they opened the Halifax Women's Welfare Clinic funded entirely by public subscriptions. They also had the first medical officer, Dr Heynemann, and the first nurse, Miss Williamson, acting as unpaid volunteers. At that time there were only 33 similar clinics in the country with two in Yorkshire at Sheffield and Leeds. The Halifax clinic later moved to the Royal Halifax Infirmary and in 1947 Dr Heynemann was succeeded by Dr Janet Cockcroft.
4. The Hospice Movement Five nursing staff in Wakefield identified the need for a hospice in 1982. They set up a steering committee comprised predominantly of women and one of the members, Marie Sullivan, chaired the appeal fund until 1983. The Hospice was completed in 1989 and officially opened in August 1990.
Copyright 2004, John Hargreaves
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