Prince William and business mogul Steven Bartlett are in Aberdeen today as part of the future King’s campaign to end homelessness.
The Prince of Wales was joined by the Dragons’ Den star at Aberdeen Foyer on Marywell Street.
The pair were in town to mark the launch of a new Homewards Activator partnership.
The scheme, launched nearly two years ago, will deliver new employment pathways for people across all six Homewards locations, including Aberdeen.
The Diary of a CEO podcast host and Dragons’ Den investor Steven Bartlett has committed to using his platform to showcase the positive role and impact business can have in efforts to end homelessness.
The need for employment pathways has been identified by the programme as crucial to preventing homelessness.
At today’s visit, the Duke of Rothesay and Mr Bartlett met with young people who use Aberdeen Foyer’s employment services, service staff and business people taking part in the programme, which includes the Chester Hotel.
Prince William heard of their challenges in finding employment, including getting no feedback from unsuccessful interviews and how being anxious has affected them.
Both guests played a game of “employment bingo”, which saw people going around the room trying to find someone who has done a certain thing, i.e. helped a charity.
It was won by Aberdeen Foyer learning team leader Kevin “Tav” Warrander.
The future King jokingly questioned the result, due to the individual that made up the quiz winning.
Steven Bartlett on homelessness and hiring
Speaking to The Press and Journal, Steven Bartlett – who runs the Diary of a CEO podcast – said he will take a lot away from today’s meeting.
“You think you understand the problem, but you’re just viewing the problem for your own sort of narrow perspective and perception and it’s not until everyone’s around the table that you kind of see 360 why it is that Natasha (who attends Aberdeen Foyer) isn’t applying for the job.
“What role am I playing as an employer that’s preventing Natasha applying for the job and also from a skills and training perspective, how charity partners can work with someone like Natasha, but also someone like me to bring down those walls so that we can we can achieve our objective which is to hire great talent.”
Prince took on board ‘100%’ of what youngsters told him
Mr Warrander revealed that the youngsters did not realise they were meeting Prince William until this morning and admitted it was a “nerve-wracking” experience.
He said the young folk were “buzzing” after getting to speak to the Royal and said he took on board “100%” of what they were telling him.
“To have him sitting at the table and actually caring about what the young people’s answers were and I think what’s even better is he followed up, so if a young person said something, he followed it up with a question, which shows that he’s listening and shows that he cares,” the Aberdeen Foyer employee said.
Prince’s walking tour causes commotion in Aberdeen city centre
Later in the day, Prince William caused a stir on the streets of Aberdeen as he was given a tour of the city’s famous murals.
The tour was led by Angus Stirling, a former oil and gas worker from Aberfeldy, who is part of a new city initiative to train people who have experienced homelessness as tour guides.
Mr Stirling, who has lived rough in London and Edinburgh but now resides in Aberdeen, walked the prince around a few of his hometown’s most well-known murals, including the ‘Super Scurry’ seagull on the corner of Holburn Street and Willowbank Road.
“He was quite impressed, looking at them,” Mr Stirling said of the prince’s reaction to the art. “He was just like the rest of us, trying to figure out what the meaning is. Who knows, right? It’s art. You just have to look at it.”
Mr Stirling’s tour started in Golden Square in the centre of Aberdeen, before taking in the unicorn made from plastic that sits on Union Row.
Prince William shares his favourite mural
However, Prince William’s favourite mural was the young boy with the seagull on the end of the Union Plaza building on Union Wynd.
“He was intrigued,” said Mr Stirling, who, as a former construction worker, has an interest in building design. “The mural’s got traditional granite stonework painted onto the glass and steel frame. I think that’s what he was most intrigued by.”
The prince’s tour left passers-by and local office workers doing a double take at seeing the future king stroll around Aberdeen’s streets in a small group.
On Holburn Street, women in the middle of getting their hair dyed spilled out of a hairdresser’s to take photos.
In Bev’s Bistro, manager Alan Bruce said he’d heard about the prince’s upcoming visit on the radio that morning but was still surprised when he showed up.
Cherie Cameron: ‘I ended up sleeping outdoors’
After his tour, Prince William visited Trinity Hall to congratulate Mr Stirling and other people with lived experience of homelessness on completing their training to become tour guides.
The programme, called Invisible Cities and sponsored by Homeward, is a social enterprise offering walking tours of cities across the UK guided by people who have experienced homelessness.
The guides tailor their tours, sharing stories of local history and culture alongside their own experiences, and earn money through tips from customers.
Guides undertake four weeks of training, and upon graduating, they can either become a guide or use the skills they’ve gained to move into other employment opportunities.
Cherie Cameron, 34, was one of the guides honoured by the prince. She can’t wait to start her own tours, which she said will focus on the city’s science and medical history, as well as the clean energy sector.
“I’m big into green energy,” said Ms Cameron, who was homeless for five months in Aberdeen.
“I became schizophrenic,” she added. “I was wandering around Aberdeen with no shoes on. I got locked out of my house – the gas company broke in because I wasn’t paying the bills – and I ended up sleeping outdoors.”
The new guides hope to get their tours up and running in the next few months. And though their clients from now on may not be as well-known as Prince William, they can’t wait to get started.
“Absolutely come and do my tour,” said Mr Stirling.
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