Bill Hargreaves

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William Mason Creer "Bill" Hargreaves, MBE (b. 12 December 1919, Mosman, New South Wales) was the first person with cerebral palsy to sit on the Executive Council of the National Spastics Society (now known as Scope). He was a pioneer for people with disabilities, helping to create opportunities in employment and society at large.

Weighing just over two pounds at birth, he was fed via an eye-dropper, bathed in olive oil and wrapped in cotton wool for the first six weeks of his life. The doctor’s advice to Bill's father was "Bill will never walk, work or wed."

On leaving school at 16, Bill began work at his father's soap factory, El-Dor. Starting as a soap packer, he became a qualified soap maker and, on his 21st birthday, Bill was put in charge of the works due to his father's ill health.

During the Second World War, Bill Hargreaves worked at the Vickers Armstrong Lancaster bomber factory in Birmingham. He entertained 80,000 troops as part of a YMCA travelling theatre with his ventriloquism act, Vocis.

In 1952, Hargreaves became Chairman of Corby Spastics Group and attended the first National Spastics Society AGM in Northampton in January 1953. Following his speech about the need for the Society to think beyond setting up a school for children with cerebral palsy, Bill was invited to join the Executive Council and served on the employment committee that brought into being the Sherrards work centre in 1957. Hargreaves was then asked to join the staff as an industrial liaison officer and in this role he placed over 1,500 people with cerebral palsy into their first jobs.

In 1962, Hargreaves founded the 62 Clubs, self-help groups run by people with cerebral palsy for others. The range of activities grew from simple camping holidays to a catamaran crossing of the English Channel, from talks about hiking in Snowdonia to climbing Mount Everest.

Bill's work gained international recognition and he was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee medal in 1977 and the MBE in 1978. He retired working 1982, but continued to be active on Scope's Executive Council and with HAT (the Handicapped Aid Trust).