Learning disability charity Walsingham has merged with the Longfields Association, a day centre for people with learning disabilities in Swansea.

The new charity, which will keep the Walsingham name, plans to expand its connections with the local community by opening a gym and a café at the day centre.

Paul Snell, Walsingham CEO, will stay on to head up the enlarged charity, which employs 540 staff now that the 18 Longfields employees have transferred over.  Longfields did not have a chief executive at the time of merger.

Peter Douglas-Jones, retiring chair of the Longfields Association, said the merger would “secure the future of Longfields”.

Before the merger, Walsingham had annual income of £14.8m while Longfields, in the year to April 2009, had income of £426,000 but spent £504,000.