Registered Charity No 218186
Background
Leonard Cheshire International supports over 250 services in 55 countries providing
day care, skills training and rehabilitation, independent living and residential
care.
Mission
To enable disabled people to get on with their own lives, whether they need
intensive support, respite care, or just a few hours support each week in their
own homes.
Method
of Operation
Services in 55 countries are supported by Leonard Cheshire International, including
day care, skills training and rehabilitation, independent living and residential
care.
Each project is run by local people. While some receive funding from the local government, many depend on voluntary donations. Although projects are autonomous, they work closely with Leonard Cheshire International in London, sharing the same values and mission.
A network of training and development officers around the world works to empower disabled people, build confidence and develop skills, train staff in care and rehabilitation skills and build the capacity of local services to meet local needs.
History
The Leonard Cheshire charity was founded in 1948 when Leonard Cheshire learned
that a friend, Arthur Dykes was terminally ill. Cheshire embarked on a long
search for suitable accommodation for Arthur but, finding nothing appropriate,
took him into his own home, Le Court in Hampshire. Le Court became the first
Cheshire home and Arthur Dykes its first resident.
Word spread and the number of people coming to Leonard Cheshire for help grew, prompting him to open a second home, St Teresa’s in Cornwall. Within the next few years, as local needs were identified, more and more Cheshire Homes were established.
In 1955, the first overseas home was established, in Bombay, India. Today there are more than 200 projects in 55 countries overseas. The work started by Leonard Cheshire continues today in Africa, the Far East, Europe (including Russia), the USA, Canada, South America, India and the Caribbean.
Leonard Cheshire strove all his life to give disabled people the right to choose how they lived their everyday lives, an ambition which resulted in the first Care at Home Service being set up in 1972. This was an innovative departure from traditional residential care and provided the opportunity for disabled people to receive support while continuing to live in their own homes. Since then, Leonard Cheshire has extended the range of services to include independent or semi-independent living, day services, rehabilitation and counselling services, a hotel, transport services, training and a range of other facilities.
Leonard
Cheshire - the man
Group Captain Leonard Cheshire was one of the most decorated RAF pilots of the
Second World War.
He married Sue Ryder in 1959 - the late Lady Ryder was founder of her own charity, Sue Ryder Care.
Leonard Cheshire continued to devote his life to developing new and innovative services for disabled people, right up until his death from Motor Neurone Disease in 1992.