An Aberdeen charity has been boosted by a significant donation from a local organisation which will allow it to buy laptops for children and young people.
Camphill School has welcomed news of the £8,680 funding from the Aberdeen Endowments Trust to further enhance online learning resources for youngsters.
The charity, which is currently celebrating its 80th anniversary, provides education, residential care, vocational training and therapies to children and young people, many with additional support needs such as autism.
It has been described as a “place of opportunities with strong values where all children and young people can reach their potential”.
And it has been praised by TV star Timmy Mallett, who highlighted the “inspirational care” which was given to his late brother Martin while he was at the centre for many years.
Alex Busch, executive director at Camphill School, said: “We are thrilled to receive such a generous donation from the Aberdeen Endowments Trust.
“Like other charities and businesses, Covid-19 has changed the way we learn, work and live and this has meant additional IT devices are desperately needed across all our services.
“Thanks to the new laptops funded by the trust, this will greatly benefit the education and wellbeing of our children and young people.”
Gail Gordon of AET, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the Camphill School students with this grant and to assist such a great organisation to deliver education”.
The charity originally came into being after a group of Austrian refugees, many of them Jewish, fled from Austria and travelled to Aberdeen at the start of the Second World War.
They were welcomed by the Haughton family who provided a manse, Kirkton House, just outside Insch, to achieve their purpose of living with, caring for and schooling children with special needs, which was pioneering at a time when such young people were written off as being “backward” and denied a proper education.
The early days were not without their challenges, because the male founders were classed as enemy aliens and interned; some in Canada, and some in the Isle of Man.
However, by 1940, the founders and children had outgrown Kirkton House and the Macmillan family supported the group to purchase Camphill House in Milltimber.
