A Christmas Wish for Scotland's Children

It sounds like a wonderful Christmas. Almost 100 years later, 60 since her memoir was published, Dorothy Haynes, a little girl destined to become a successful writer, clearly enjoyed her first festive season at Aberlour Orphanage.

Sledging in pristine snow, midnight feasts, carol-singing, games and dances, it sounds idyllic although, away from the roaring fires and tinsel, Dorothy, who was only ten at the time, understood not all the children shared her happy excitement.

There will have been sadness there, of course, for some of the girls and boys without families, others unable to live with them, and, while it is cheering to read of the happiest times, we must look back with clear eyes to ensure we can look ahead with clarity and purpose. 

The orphanage in the Speyside village is gone now. It closed in 1967 as we began to explore better ways of caring but Aberlour, the charity it inspired, celebrated our 150th anniversary this year with a series of events inspiring a range of emotions, from pride in our work to frustration that so much more is needed.

There is still a lot to be proud of because, for a century and a half, we have been right there for children in need, by their side, offering them care, support, and love, and helping them through challenging childhoods into brighter futures and happier lives. 

As the years passed, Aberlour has become one of Scotland’s most enduring and significant charities, protecting and improving the lives and life chances of generations of children, stretching a safety net of residential care and frontline family support across Scotland. The priority of our charity is first to keep children safe and then, whenever possible, keep their families together.

So, yes, the last 12 months have been a chance to look back on the achievements of the children supported through the years, but would Canon Charles Jupp feel like celebrating 150 years after he opened his orphanage for “mitherless bairns” at Burnside Cottage, Aberlour? Or would he be dismayed that so many children are still growing up in poverty in one of the world’s wealthiest countries, that so many of Scotland’s young people are going to bed cold and going to school hungry, their childhoods harsh and relentless, their chances undercut and futures sabotaged?

I joined Aberlour just two months ago and feel lucky to have arrived in time to mark the anniversary with our staff, volunteers and donors. I have been visiting our services, meeting our teams and getting to know the families we support, and no one I have spoken to, absolutely no one, believes we have time to pat ourselves on the back. Our services may range from residential care and fostering to mother and child recovery houses and specialist family support, but poverty’s corrosive impact on young lives is the seam running through all of them. As a country, as a society, our ambition must be higher than easing poverty. We must work to end it, eradicate it.

Aberlour cares and supports children and families but helps raise their voices too, and we will continue to campaign for practical, effective, life-changing reform. Warm words will not feed a hungry child or heat their home. We must urgently close the gap between good intentions and real, impactful change.

Our country is a very different place than it was when Dorothy Haynes enjoyed Christmas in Aberlour. The orphanage is gone and the children who once lived there have children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of their own, but the most important thing for our charity, the urgent need to support disadvantaged children and their families, has not changed a bit. 

So, our big year is drawing to a close but our work is far from over. A Christmas wish? That it will be one day.

Justina Murray

Aberlour CEO

This article was written for The Sunday Post.