member name:   password:       The Theatre wing of the former home of Dr John Langdon Down, formerly known as Normansfield, is now owned and managed by the Langdon Down Centre Trust (LDCT). The building was refurbished and handed over to the Trust as part of a Section 106 planning agreement by Developers Laing Homes in October 2003. The Trustees consist of a group of people who are all connected to the learning disability world in some way and most have a direct interest in Down's syndrome. There are also a few trustees with links to the Theatre world, and the patron of the charity is Lord Brian Rix. The remit of the Trust is to promote, preserve and manage this beautiful grade 11* listed building, and the historical archive material of Dr. Langdon Down. The Trust archivist is currently cataloguing his medical papers, photographs and journals and setting up a museum to Dr. Langdon Down in the basement which is open to the public by prior arrangement. Dr John Langdon Down was a Victorian physician who established Normansfield in 1868 as a family home and a place where people with learning disabilities could be cared for and educated at a time when most of them would have been condemned to life in an asylum. This remarkable man built a beautiful Theatre and encouraged his patients/students to learn music and drama as part of their education. He provided work experience in woodwork and farming in a way that was probably more advanced than some of the provision available today. Most of his students had the condition that now bears his name and he is known internationally as the 'Father of Down's syndrome'.