Link-Ability Celebrates 20 Year Anniversary of 'Living Life to the Full'

Link-Ability celebrates 20 years of caring for people with learning difficulties and physical disabilities in Chorley and South Ribble.

Nearly 200 people celebrated Link-Ability’s 20th year at Rivington Hall Barn on Friday 23rd October with a hearty hot pot supper and disco that had everyone dancing late into the night.  Guests included Mr Lindsey Hoyle – MP for Chorley, Patricia Case – Cabinet Member for Lancashire County Council, Peter Goldsworthy – Leader of Chorley Borough Council, Link-Ability Board members, current staff, previous staff, original family members who helped set up LinkAbility in 1989 and, most importantly, many of the people Link-Ability care for and their families. 

Dave Naden, LinkAbility Chief Executive said: “We have come a long way in 20 years, although it seems like only yesterday that we had those very first discussions about setting up our services.  It’s absolutely brilliant to see so many people here, especially many of the people we care for, having such a great time and able to celebrate our 20th year together this evening”. 

Link-Ability opened their first house in 1990 in Coppull with 12 staff caring for 4 people who had profound physical disabilities and complex learning difficulties.  This original house was provided by Chorley Borough Council and Link-Ability paid £50,000 to convert the house in readiness for their very special tenants.  The need for Link-Ability’s services was realised by a small group of families whose children needed a higher level of support that was not available to them locally at the time.  It took 18 months for these families to set up Link-Ability with the help of local and national charities, professional people and Social Services.  Dave Naden took up the vision of those families and children in need back in 1989, after being seconded by Scope, and has been the Chief Executive ever since. Twenty years on, and Link-Ability now have 20 houses, with 140 staff, caring for 32 people who have a wide range of support needs.

Mr Naden went on to say “Those original families worked very hard to set Link-Ability up and it is testimony to them that we are now providing those services to more and more people with many of those original families and children still with us today.  ‘Living life to the full’ has been our motto from the very start. 

Now other care organisations look at Link-Ability and provide care services in the same way that we do and we have plans to develop our services even more in the very near future”.

Lancashire County Council's Preferred Provider List

In July we were pleased to receive confirmation tht we had been retained on Lancashire County Council's Preferred Provider list. This means that Lancashire are able to put people in contact with us when they are looking for a service provider.

We were even more delighted to find that we received top scorings in all of the areas for which we provided evidence with the exception of 'personalisation'. We provided evidence of our quality services in many areas. We were delighted to include the recent Person Centred Planning audit which was conducted in Central Lancashire by Peter and Wendy Craine Independent Living Advisors which gave Link-Ability a special mention on the Chorley and South Ribble PCP website at www.csrpcp.net.

We are working hard to meet local and national recommendations with regard to providing 'personalised' services. Some of the people we support, who want them will have personal budgets in the near future.

Stop Press - Story!

After many months of diligent and careful consultation/negotiation, Link-Ability can announce that it has agreed a Contract to provide services on behalf of Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council.

The Contract will begin on the 1st November 2009.  In accordance with Link-Ability's Articles of Association the beneficiaries of the new Contract, will be 33 people experiencing learning disability living at home or in supported accommodation in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton.  Embracing the Local and National agenda for Personalisation will be a key priority for Link-Ability.

The local branch office is:

Link-Ability

The Old Police Station

22 Hind Hill Street

Heywood

Lancashire OL10 1AQ

For more information contact:

Lesley Harrison

Assistant Director

Tel: 01706 362276

E-Mail: l.harrison@linkability.org.uk