Prince William visited Aberdeen today as part of his campaign to end homelessness in the UK within five years.
The Prince of Wales – officially the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland – was at the Tillydrone Community Campus, for his only engagement north of the border as part of the launch of the Homewards project.
The visit aimed to spotlight how co-located and joined up community support services can improve early intervention and prevent homelessness, with the Hayton Road facility being one of only six across the UK selected for the five-year scheme.
William received a tour of the £6 million Hayton Road campus that opened in August 2019, and saw a number of activities take place, including cooking classes, NHS services and nursery sessions for young children.
He spoke to a number of people from across council and NHS services, including the Aberdeen City Council chief executive Angela Scott and Heather McCluskey from bid partner Centre for Homelessness Impact.
The local authority’s housing access and support manager Graeme Gardner also spoke to the prince, saying he felt “really fortunate” to be able to show him round the campus.
“I think we’ve shown what we can do by bringing services together and to support people in a community like Tillydrone,” he said.
Mr Gardner also said that it was “delightful” to see William interact with members of the public outside of the building, adding: “That’s what preventing homelessness is about as well, it’s about people being able to talk to other folks and take them to a place where the risk of homelessness never happens.”
His tour of the facility included going into the kitchen, where he spoke to staff about the challenges of cooking for one and healthy eating, before speaking to nurses and other professionals, including housing officers.
As well as this, he spoke to people who were part of an activity group and representatives from Aberdeen Foyer and Rosie’s Social Enterprises, who run the centre’s cafe, before watching children play games, including air hockey.
During his visit, he also spoke to people who have experienced homelessness and joined story time with children, before speaking and posing for selfies with local residents.
One of the people that he spoke to was Tiffany Burnett, a council tenant who helped develop the protocol between children and family services, social work and housing, as well as also attending a mother and baby group at the facility.
Prince meets former homeless resident
She was there with her eight-month old son Cole Following her conversation with the prince, she said: “I felt quite nervous when he came, I didn’t really know what to expect, but once he was he was here and talked, it felt like any conversation. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary or scary.
“To have the backing of somebody like the royal family behind us to end homelessness across the whole of the UK is quite amazing and I’m really excited to see the impact it’s going to have.”
Yesterday, the Prince William launched his homelessness campaign in Lambeth before visiting facilities in Bournemouth and Newport, with trips to Belfast and Sheffield also taking place today alongside the Aberdeen visit.