Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Seed for Aberdeen Cyrenians was sown in soup kitchen started by founder Sandy Murray

The charity offers support to those with a variety of problems and has an impressive track record of putting people back on their feet.

Aberdeen Cyrenians founder Sandy Murray is a charity stalwart. Pic: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson
Aberdeen Cyrenians founder Sandy Murray is a charity stalwart. Pic: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

As Christmas beckons, the majority of people in Aberdeen and across the north of Scotland will be excited about the festive season.

But there are plenty of others who will be struggling to make ends meet or even manage to get a roof over their heads in often sub-zero temperatures.

And Sandy Murray, the founder of Aberdeen Cyrenians, knows more than most about the problems faced by those who exist on the outside of society and are too often ignored as being somebody else’s problem.

The north-east man, a stalwart figure in the charity sector, has been dedicated to helping people since he was a youngster in the 1960s.

It all began with a soup kitchen

At Aberdeen University, he heard about a radical priest called Father Anthony Ross, who had been very active in Edinburgh about addressing the issue of homelessness.

So he invited Fr Anthony to the Granite City to talk about his work, was inspired by what he heard, and subsequently spent the whole of his summer break getting involved in the services in the Scottish capital  – while working part-time at fashion store C & A.

Sandy Murray has been helped by others in bolstering Aberdeen Cyrenians. Pic: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

On returning north, he talked with kindred spirits and they decided to start a soup kitchen, and although they had no cash, they found a butcher and baker who were willing to give them supplies of meat and bread.

Finding a place to sleep

They were determined to help people sleeping rough, but had to find them and explain what they were doing – and, with the help of local police officers and others, Sandy and his colleagues began providing food to them.

He recalls: “Word spread and others got to know about us. We went from working one night to several and then seven days a week. We were joined by other university groups  and volunteers from other places. Then the challenge was providing a place to sleep and we depended on a remarkable group of students to deliver the service.”

Nothing was easy, but Wernham House was established in Aberdeen’s Virginia Street in 1986 and during its 37 years in operation, it has supported hundreds – if not thousands – of people, some of whose circumstances were greatly improved through their input.

Sandy was at the forefront of the initiative at the Cyrenians and developed their range of services, but he has never forgotten the impressive woman whose can-do attitude provided inspiration to those who have done such sterling work for so many decades.

Sandy Murray was involved with Aberdeen Cyrenians from the 1960s. Pic: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

‘A memorable occasion’

He recalled: “In my first year as superintendent of the Lodging House, Hilda Wernham, a formidable lady [who was brought up in Deeside, trained as a nurse, and was one of the first on the scene when the university’s Zoology Building collapsed in 1966] managed to get donations of turkeys.

“In addition to the people living in the lodging house, we were able to include the men and women from the night shelter.

Hilda Wernham was a stalwart figure in the history of Aberdeen Cyrenians.

“It was a memorable occasion with John Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War is Over) on repeat. But one of the longest residents was crying. I asked what the problem was.

“But it was not a problem – he said that he was overcome with emotion because it had been so long since he had anything to celebrate.”

That story speaks volumes about the importance of this marvellous organisation. And that’s equally true at Christmas and during the rest of the year.

Further information about Aberdeen Cyrenians is available at weareac.org/