Leonard Cheshire is a major health and welfare charity working in the United Kingdom and running development projects around the world. It was founded in 1948 by Royal Air Force officer Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC.
Leonard Cheshire's aims are to support disabled people to live, learn and work as independently as they choose - whatever their ability. The charity supports disabled people through local care services including residential homes, supported living, domiciliary support, day services, activity centres, respite care, transition services, and employment and skills support. It also runs political campaigns on issues affecting disabled people.
In 2013–14 it had income of over £162 million, placing it in the top 40 of UK charities. Around 90% of this income came from government grants, and around £18 million in donations (2013/14).
History
The charity was originally known as The Cheshire Foundation Homes for the Sick, and in 1976 became the Leonard Cheshire Foundation. In 2007 it rebranded to Leonard Cheshire Disability and in 2018 its brand and logotype were simplified to Leonard Cheshire.
Group Captain Leonard Cheshire started the charity in 1948 when he took a dying man, who had nowhere else to go, into his own home: a country house called Le Court, near Liss in Hampshire. By the summer of 1949, Le Court had 24 residents with complex needs, illnesses and impairments, living under the 'self-help' philosophy encouraged by Cheshire. As awareness of Leonard's work spread he started to receive referrals from the NHS, and local communities rallied to his cause, building homes for disabled people living in their own local area. By 1955 there were six Cheshire homes in Britain. The first overseas Cheshire Home was established in Mumbai, India the same year.
During the 1960s, this pattern expanded rapidly across the UK. People were inspired by Group Captain Cheshire's example; The Duke of Edinburgh described the work 'as one of the greatest acts of humanity in our time'. Each of these "Cheshire Homes", as they came to be called, were similarly set up: local communities came forward, assembled a group of volunteers, found whatever suitable accommodation they could set up administrative committees and began raising funds for development. This gave each Cheshire Home a local structure closely knit to the community they were serving while being affiliated with an international organization. The founder and his small secretariat in London helped the committees with their endeavours, including arranging well-publicised openings, all the more attractive to the public for Group Captain Cheshire's attendance.
In the 1960s, attitudes towards disabled people were openly discriminatory. Thousands of people with disabilities, often young, were consigned to geriatric hospital wards and employment prospects were non-existent. The charity's aim was to tackle these barriers to disabled people participating fully in society. Residents at Le Court benefited from a greater degree of 'self-help' but the home was still run locally along medical lines by the Warden and Matron. Matters came to a head in 1962 when a group of residents protested against rules curtailing their activities introduced by the Matron. Led by activists (and Le Court residents) Paul Hunt and Peter Wade, supported by the founder and sympathetic staff and trustees, the residents eventually prevailed. This led to changes in the philosophy of the management committee at Le Court and other Cheshire Homes, and eventually to the formation of the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation as Hunt, Wade and others started to explore and campaign for life beyond residential care.
By 1969 there were 50 Leonard Cheshire services in the UK, 15 in India, and Homes in 20 other countries including Portugal, Morocco, Chile, Israel, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The 1960s produced much new thinking on disability and resulted in better training for residential care workers, personal counselling within the homes and the involvement of residents in management. The first-day centre was established near Nottingham, bungalows for married residents were started in West Sussex and supported living flats were built in Tulse Hill in partnership with the Greater London Council.