In 1962 the tragedy of Thalidomide struck some 600 families in the UK. Lady Mary Hoare, wife of the then Lord Mayor of London, established a trust to raise money and help the children who were born with missing limbs whether due to the Thalidomide drug or not.

She was ahead of her time in knowing that children cared for in their own homes would have a better chance of development than they would living in residential centres.

In the late 60's Distillers, who marketed the drug, made a financial settlement to the families of children affected by Thalidomide and The Thalidomide Trust was set up to manage that settlement. Any money that LHT had been given purely for thalidomide children was passed to that Trust.

LHT continued to work with children with missing limbs but also began to specialise in conditions affecting limbs such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis - an excruciatingly painful condition which can affect children as young as 10 months. The Trust employed a team of professional social workers across the UK to provide support to families both in hospital clinics and at home.

Merging two organisations is never easy but both charities felt that the inevitable pain of going through such a process would be worth it in the end. We hope that by combining the resources and expertise of both organisations, we can offer a far better service to disabled children and their families across the UK.

The Lady Hoare Trust services are being integrated into existing Contact a Family structures. All staff and Trustees of Lady Hoare Trust were invited to join Contact a Family. Over the next 12 months, the enlarged Board of Trustees will be reviewing governance and agreeing a new five year strategic plan for the organisation. However, Contact a Family will retain its key focus on parental and family support, information and empowerment. We will continue to work for change and an inclusive society for all disabled children and their families. Joining forces with Lady Hoare Trust will hopefully help us to achieve this sooner rather than later.