Branch History

1969

We don’t go back that far but that’s when Parkinson’s UK started.

Parkinson’s UK was started in 1969 by Mali Jenkins because she couldn’t find support for her sister Sarah, who was living with the condition. The first meeting was at the Westminster Hospital and sixteen people attended.

Mali had initially looked for patient associations to help people with Parkinson`s, but searches in local libraries showed that nothing like that existed. Frustrated that there were only scientific journals and nothing in layman`s terms that could teach her about her sister`s condition, Mali decided to find out what she could do to help people learn about Parkinson`s.

She placed adverts in the personal columns of a couple of newspapers asking people to come forward who were interested in forming an exploratory steering group. Mali chaired the committee and her sister Eryl was secretary. Other friends and family were asked to help. It was from this that the idea of starting a charity grew and on 26 February 1969 Mali Jenkins founded the Parkinson`s Disease Society, which has evolved to be known as Parkinson`s UK.