Around 30 Burgesses and guests from the Burgesses Guild of the City of Aberdeen marked the 70th anniversary of Camphill with an insight into the its foundation in wartime Aberdeen.

The Burgesses heard how the Camphill pioneers, who had been planning a community to provide education and support for children with special needs, were welcomed into Aberdeen as refugees, after fleeing from the Nazi annexation of Austria.


Laurence Alfred (left) representing Camphill Aberdeen City and Shire, receives a commemorative certificate from Colin Taylor, senior assessor of the Burgesses Guild

With the support of eminent Aberdonians, including the then principal of the University of Aberdeen Sir William Hamilton Fyfe, Camphill Home for Boys and Girls opened at Camphill House in the Milltimber area of Aberdeen on June 1, 1940.

Local support was to prove vital because, at the time of the opening, all the male refugees were actually interned, as aliens, in the Isle of Man.

During their visit, Burgesses and guests toured the Murtle Campus of Camphill School Aberdeen to learn more about the work of the internationally recognised centre for special needs’ education.


Dr Karl König welcomed to Aberdeen with the other refugees who founded Camphill in the city

They will heard about the other charities in Camphill Aberdeen City and Shire that provide training for young adults, personal development opportunities for adult with special needs and Simeon Care for the Elderly.

More than 700 people live and work in Camphill communities in the Aberdeen area. Internationally there are 100 centres with 10,000 people across Europe, the USA, Canada, Russia, Africa and India.

The Burgesses are meeting at Camphill Hall, on the Murtle Campus of Camphill School Aberdeen, in Bieldside, at 7pm on Wednesday (June 16).

Tags: Camphill