Kingsley Organisation

General information

The Kingsley Organisation began life in 1987 on the site of a former school in the village of Kingsley in East Hampshire. The Kingsley Centre, as the building became, is now the headquarters of our organisation.

We exist to provide personal development and training opportunities for disabled people, both directly through our Disability Services and through the provision of services to the community. We established ourselves as a unique place where real inclusivity and personal learning sit alongside one another. We focus on twin aims:

•To provide self development and training opportunities with and for disabled people

• To provide services to the community in an inclusive and enabling environment so that everyone can enjoy a variety of resources and opportunities, which promote learning, wellbeing and cohesion
Since we began, initially as a means to address a deficit in provision in the Hampshire area, we have grown and now provide our Disability Services in the London Borough of Camden and in Reading where we serve people from West Berkshire, Reading and South Oxfordshire. All that we provide has grown out of the ideas and needs of the disabled people we work with.

At the Kingsley Centre itself, we seek to play an active role in the local community through the provision of a high standard of facilities and community services. These are provided wherever practicable with the involvement or our disabled participants, facilitating interaction with, and thereby encouraging a greater understanding of, disability issues in general.

As well as providing the location for the village shop and Post Office, we are also the location for a number of regular community groups, including a nursery, Brownies pack, coffee morning and a range of sports and leisure facilities. We also host a variety of events, including a Community Lunch Club, interest talks, a tea dance, the Village Forum and the . Our Main Hall, Meadow Room and Skyview Room are available to rent at very competitive prices for business meetings, functions and private events.

All our wok is guided by our underlying philosophy. We believe that as a society, we will achieve more if we work as an inclusive community and that every individual has a unique contribution to make. We are a distinct organisation, neither conforming to the conventional day service model for disabled people nor operating as a typical community centre.