Our neighbours South Sefton Mencap, are run by volunteers and like many small charities, they’ve been finding it hard to keep their group going.  The group started over 50 years ago as the Crosby & District society and they have been running activities from their well-known building in Mariners Road since 1968.

When we heard they might have to close, we decided to join forces!  If everything goes smoothly, South Sefton Mencap will officially become part of Mencap Liverpool in December and we’re planning a big Christmas party to celebrate!

What does this mean?

Our plan means that South Sefton Mencap will be able to keep going, especially the popular Thursday Club!  And we hope to be able to offer more of Mencap Liverpool’s current services to people in Sefton as we get funding.  We’ll also be able to keep the building open and available for local people, especially those with a learning disability.  We’ve already applied for some funding for an Outreach worker and an activities co-ordinator for Sefton.  We find out later this month if we’ve been successful, so please keep your fingers crossed!  We’re really keen to find out what you think we should do, so we’re holding a meeting for South Sefton members on Thursday 25th Oct at 6.30pm.

What about Mencap Liverpool members?

This is an exciting opportunity for Mencap Liverpool members, who will be able to benefit from the facilities at Mencap Cottage Home, (the South Sefton Mencap building).  We’ll be able to offer you lots more activities, workshops and volunteering opportunities, that we don’t currently have the space for in our office in Lydia Ann st.  The building is close to the beach and Crosby Leisure centre.  It’s easy to get to on the bus from Queen’s Square or the train from Liverpool Central.  If you’re involved in the filming for the British Institute of Human Rights project, you’ll get the first chance to visit the building…. Gent’s group might be interested to know that there are two proper pool tables, a dart board and a foosball table…  There’s also a kitchen we can use to run our cooking workshops and a fully kitted out pamper room.

Joining together will make us stronger and we think it will help us to raise more money, which means we can do more for current members and reach more people who need our help.

We want to hear from you….

We know that you’ll probably have lots of questions and we’re sure you’ll have some great ideas.   We will be explaining more to Mencap Liverpool members during our socials in the next week.  We are going to write all your questions down, so that we can post the answers on our website and facebook page for everyone to see, so watch this space…