Purple Oak Support

Purple Oak Support (formerly known as Andover and District Mencap) is an independent, not for profit, community minded charity supporting and advocating for adults and children with learning disabilities, their families and carers. Established in 1964 by a group of parents, who thought that the idea of sending their children to residential hospitals was not in the best interests of their children. This group of parents thought their children should live their lives and have the same opportunities as everyone else. Since that time we have been working with our members, their families and carers within the local community enabling children and adults with learning disabilities to live as independent a life as possible. We take pride in our history. We have been serving the communities of Andover and the surrounding areas for over 50 years. What started out as a concerned group of parents whose children had a learning disability, has now turned into a charity which has over 7000 people access our community services. During our 50 years we have worked tirelessly to develop a range of bespoke facilities. We have our community focused Wellington Centre, Supported Living Accommodation, Stephens Ark respite centre, Domiciliary Care and a wide range of community initiatives. Our aim is to build on this success and develop our services, enabling even more people with learning disabilities to have a voice. Enabling choice and independence to those with a learning disability is fundamentally, at the heart of our charity. We continually strive to develop as an organisation, ensuring that we raise awareness and change attitudes surrounding learning disabilities within our community for many years to come.