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60 Years, 60 Stories

As part of our celebrations for our 60th Anniversary we have collected 60 individual stories to describe and record the diverse nature and history of our community. A story for each of our 60 years.

All our stories come from service users, volunteers, trustees, staff and many others who have been involved with Harpenden Mencap over the 60years.

Over the last 60 years we have achieved so much. Residential services for younger and older residents have been built, social groups have been setup, fairs and jumble sales, golf days, cake stalls and all sorts of events have raised money, our shop has thrived, research papers have been written, community links established and a proud and trusted reputation for high standards has been recognised. And so much more.

All these achievements have come from the hard work and determination of many, many people who had a vision to provide and promote services and equality for our people who have learning disabilities. 

All of these stories are part of our Harpenden Mencap history and we've put them together to share on this site and allow others to read them and hear what Harpenden Mencap is all about.  

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  • 09/03/20

    Story 60

        And here it is! the last story of our 60 stories, celebrating 60 years of Harpenden Mencap. Provided by Caroline Hysom this story is centered around setting up a dance and drama group called Special Act.
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  • 14/02/20

    Stories 58-59

          Nearing the end of our 60 stories we have two more this week, one from Alan who has been involved for 40 years and another from Colin who has been a part of our golf days for some time. ,
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  • 07/02/20

    Stories 56-57

          We have stories from two support workers this week. The first from Emma in Residential Services and the second from Katherine in our Domiciliary Service. This summer I was lucky enough to support residents from flat 4 to Clacton for 3 nights. Margot and I were chosen...
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  • 31/01/20

    Stories 54-55

    This week features two of our Trustees; Nick, Harpenden Mencap's Treasurer and Julie, our Chairman.   Like many others involved with Stairways, our relationship as family goes back a long way. It all started when our son, Freddie (see story number 3), started in the children...
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  • 24/01/20

    Stories 52-53

    This week we have a story from our previous fundraising and Events Coordinator Natalie and a story from the fundraising team. My story begins with a telephone call from Patrick Fisher many years ago asking if I would join the General Committee at Harpenden Mencap.   For a few years I...
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  • 13/01/20

    Story 51

    This week features a story about our hugely successful Annual Golf Day, written by an organiser of the event- Matthew Hignell The Harpenden Mencap Golf Day has always had a special place in my diary having grown out of an idea from my wife nine years ago. This year was going to be differe...
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  • 30/12/19

    Stories 49-50

    This week features stories from staff working in the Supported Living Service. One member of staff was raising money for the charity, the other celebrating a wonderful accomplishment of a service user.  I have been working for Harpenden Mencap for over a year now and I have loved every...
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  • 20/12/19

    Stories 47-48

    Two great stories feature this week, one about our publicity day on the concourse and the other about the planning and construction of Pine Court. Harpenden is a very competitive town for charities competing with each other for volunteers and financial donations, and the Trustees decided that we...
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  • 13/12/19

    Stories 45-46

          Siobhan a Support Worker from Residential Services and Rachel, a volunteer from our shop provide their lovely stories this week.
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  • 06/12/19

    Story 44

    Our Story for this week comes from Special Olympics, They provide sporting opportunities for those with a learning disability .  Special Olympics St Albans (SOSA) has always had a fantastic relationship with Harpenden Mencap. A lot of our members are also residents at eithe...
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  • 29/11/19

    Stories 42-43

    Two stories from Britannia club feature this week, looks like great fun! I started helping out with Britannia Club around 2004 with Louise Thrift. At that time, we were based at the Friends Meeting House in Harpenden but when Pine Court was built, we were lucky enough to be able to move t...
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