ABSTRACT
The need for community work at that time was argued against the background of the shift away from institutions to community care, and the need to augment the personal social services in deprived inner city neighbourhoods. The first staff appointment to the Southwark Community Project was made in 1968, and the team moved into Southwark later in the same year. The vortex of the Project’s activity, and that of most of the neighbourhood groups who used its resources, comprised the struggle to achieve improvements in the housing of those who lived in the slums that dominated many parts of north-west Southwark. Housing and play provision were the twin pivots in the Project’s neighbourhood work. Work with community groups entailed continuing contact with staff in the statutory and voluntary services. Community action on local needs quickly became a component of political life in town halls in urban communities.
