NDRC History
History of NDRC
NDRC celebrated 50 years of work in Sunderland in 2014. To commemorate this milestone we delved through our archives to produce a book celebrating our organisation, staff, volunteers and members.
To view the book click the image on the right/..
The History of Northeast Disability Resource Centre (NDRC)
1963.
In 1963 two thoughtful hospital workers, one an almoner the other a physiotherapist decided to form a charitable service for some of their patients who mostly had Cerebral Palsy. They started with just a small group but it quickly became obvious that there was a greater need for the care and social interaction that they offered. Sunderland Hospitals let them use a room within the Havelock Hospital but within a few years it became apparent that they needed a larger space of their own.
The late 1960s until 1998
The charity had become associated with what was to become National Scope. (Known as Equal today.) With their support we acquired the use of an area of land near Havelock Hospital and through the support of Sunderland Council and Scope enough money was raised to provide a semi prefabricated suitable building for our charitys’ use. That was great and the group expanded again.
At this time the care of disabled people involved giving them some work to do that would raise their feelings of self worth. in reality many disabled people worked each and every day doing very monotenous work, such as forming wire coat-hangers. Slowly, very slowly society realised that such an approach was wrong and thankfully over a relatively short time all work ceased and disabled clients began to have higher expectations of life. Their social interactions with other clients in our charity became such that it could loosly be called a family of disabled clients and their carers Again life was slowly becoming better for many disabled citizen.
After decades of use the building needed a large amount of maintenance work that was going to cost far more than we could raise. Once again Sunderland Council helped out by offering us the use of a building on Villette Road in town. We accepted and very soon we moved.
1998 to 2005
From the begining the building on villette Road had space limitations but the charity enjoyed its years there. More regulations about disability had occured which made more members of the public aware of the problems encountered by disabled people. As much as was possible we saw that our clients were able to chose what to do each day or even to do nothing and sit and chat with a friend or friends. The centre of Sunderland offered new and mixed opportunities for our clients, Museums, the Bowling alley, hundreds of shopping opportunitues, beautiful parks, the coast and Sunderlands sea front, along the riverside, pubs for a quite drink, the cinema and much more.
However, once again the lack of space saw us asking the Council for help and they came through with a old flat-rooted and partially prefabricated childrens nursery building on Cork Street in Hendon. We were moving again.
2005 – 2022
The Council were once again to be thanked for converting the old nursery and making it usefull for us to use as our charity base. It was the largest space that we had ever used and we also had garden areas. It was great and matters for our disabled clients were improving again.
At this time we experienced confussion about being identified by many people as being National Scope. We decided that to avoid such confussion we needed a new name and very soon we became the Northeast Disability Resource Centre (NDRC).
Our charity flourished during the early years on Cork Street. Our clients grew in numbers as did our carers. We also often refered to our clients as members because we had introduced a membership option open to anyone who had an interest in improving the lives of disabled people. All our clients joined as did the staff and the trustees. It gave a leveling feeling between us all. We all shared the same thing. Over these years we helped our clients to do whatever they wanted and even arranged one member to go on his first ever holiday abroad, with our carer supporting him. Our members went on trips across the region on a regular basis and local destinations were often visited more than once a week. We even found ourselves in a situation to acquire a large caravan/lodge at Haggerston Castle which was designed to be accessible and is very popular and can be booked from this website. (Look under Services at the top of each page.)
Over those years management and trustees had a dream of a purpose built location for NDRC where bungalows could be built close by so that we could support the disabled tenants living there. It was often discussed and our General manager even came up with an illustrated plan. Our chairperson and other trustees began looking into the possibility of building on some land literally yards from our present location and once more it was Sunderland Council who agreed to become involved and help to make that dream of ours come true.
In February 2022 we moved into The Valiant Centre, a beautiful purpose built facility that was at the head of Valiant Close where 17 accessible bungalows had also been built for disabled citizens. The local Council had created something special.
From 2020 to the winter of 2022 the pandemic caused by Covid-19 cost the world dear. The Valiant Centre reflects just how valiant so many disabled people have been throughout their lives regardless of countless barriers placed in their paths. This new Care Centre is something special and we intend to ensure that the work done here is just as special because our clients, our members deserve nothing less.
Education & Training
Our dedicated and experienced staff can offer educational classes ranging from basic IT skills to recognised qualifications.
Day Centre Services
Northeast Disabilities Resource Centre is a brand new 2 storey purpose-built day care centre in the heart of the City of Sunderland.
Our Beautiful Holiday Lodge
Did you know? We have a beautiful lodge set by the lakeside at the award winning Haggerston castle in Northumberland.
Personal Assistance
NDRC can offer a one-to-one service or within a small group for individuals to attend social gatherings, their chosen hobbies...
Supported Living Services
We have some amazing purpose built one and two bedroom bungalows that are fully accessible and complete with assistive technology.
