The growth of services slowed in the 1920’s while the Committee worked on maintaining its existing services, with two notable exceptions. One of the most pressing needs the Committee wanted to address was that of provision of residential care for the elderly. At the time there were few alternatives available to people outside of the workhouse. The Committee opened its first elderly care home in 1926, at Powfoulis House in Stirlingshire. It was a modest venture, with accommodation for thirty-five residents in sparsely furnished rooms, with little privacy. Standards of furnishings and equipment were very different from what they would become just a few decades later. Sitting rooms were equipped with gifts of old chairs from interested donors, bedrooms had a variety of iron bedsteads, with flock mattresses, and one large wardrobe in each bedroom. Twenty coal fires requiring constant attention, took the place of central heating and a second-hand electricity generating plant, which was more often than not out of order, was the main source of lighting, until 1938 when the house was connected to the main electricity line. Even with all these inadequacies Powfoulis proved to be a preferable alternative to the workhouse for many people.
The second notable addition to the Committees list of ventures was the Edinburgh Sabbath Free Breakfast and People’s Palace Mission which had been running since 1874. In 1923 the people in charge of the Mission felt the time had come for it to be placed with an organisation which would give continuity to its work and provide more adequately for the changing needs of the community. The Mission provided free breakfast on Sunday mornings later adding evening and mid-week services through its café in the old Cowgate Church which became a social centre, the Cafe prospered and the Mission Buildings were used for a variety of activities over the years including a night shelter for those affected by drug misuse and a day centre for elderly people. Attached to the People’s Palace Mission was Kinghorn Holiday Home which had been bought in 1905 as a holiday home for children and a rest home for mothers.
