Support for people with learning disabilities has come a long way over the years.

And one charity in particular has played a huge role in improving the quality of life of the learning disabled and their families in the district.

Braintree District Mencap Society, based at Charles Leeks House in Braintree’s Coggeshall Road, is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year.

Believed to be one of the longest-running charities in the area, it has fought - and won - many battles since it began in January 1955.

Then it was known as the Braintree Section of the National Association of the Parents of Backward Children, and later the Braintree & District Society for Mentally Handicapped Children.

Just as the terms for people with learning disabilities have changed over the decades, so have the options available to them.

Peter Brown, president of Braintree Mencap, said they used to be “written off,” classed as “ineducable”.

He told the story of his owner sister, Jean, who had Down’s Syndrome, and was the reason he got involved with the group more than 50 years ago.

Mr Brown, whose parents George and Ivy were founding members, said: “My sister’s story is typical of others at that time.

“For five years virtually nothing happened other than a doctor said ‘your daughter will never be able to read and will probably not live beyond 17.’ “It was all very negative prognosis in those days.”

Mr Brown, a retired headteacher from Church Street, Bocking, said at that time everybody his family knew in the same position “felt totally isolated”.

“What happens when you get people who feel deprived of help and services is they get together and form a mutual support group,” he said.

Because of Braintree Mencap, which is affiliated with the Royal Mencap Society, Braintree got its first special school, based at Charles Leeks House.

It was later replaced by the purpose-built Edith Borthwick School in Church Street, Bocking.

Another major achievement was the Diana Golding Centre, in Coggeshall Road, for those with multiple disabilities.

It opened after the county council agreed to offer grant aid if Braintree Mencap ran it.

Now, social services manage it.

Mr Brown, 72, a father-of-two who was awarded an MBE for service to the community, said: “I don’t feel we have failed in anything we have wanted to do.

“We might take a long time to achieve it.”

The charity, which costs more than £100,000 a year to run, has 45 volunteers and a number of paid staff, and about 540 members.

The most expensive service is the Play and Activity Respite Scheme, at a cost of about £43,000 a year.

Activities have included bowling, trampolining and painting geese for the Gosfield Goose Trail, as well as trips to Mersea, Clacton and London.

Play and activity scheme manager Tina Fitton said: “To see children with a smile on their faces at the sessions and playing alongside their peers, or for our older groups to see them dealing with everyday issues with such confidence is all the reward I need for the job I have undertaken.”

Another service offered by Braintree Mencap is the Gateway club for adults, which sees them enjoy activities like arts and crafts, discos and bingo.

A new drop-in service for Wednesday mornings is also due to open soon at Charles Leeks House.

Mr Brown’s wife Janet, 68, also a retired headteacher who chairs Braintree Mencap, said nowadays parents had greater aspirations for their learning disabled children.

Mr Brown, chairman of Braintree District Local Action Group, which co-ordinates services for those with learning disabilities, added: “It’s all to do with the fact they have been given the opportunities.

“They have a proper education, they have been on courses at college, they have some experience of the workplace.

“Nobody turns an eye now. They are just in the street the same as everybody else.

“I think from that point of view there’s a much greater degree of acceptance.”

For more information about Braintree Mencap contact the office on 01376 326302.