About Quarriers
Quarriers, formerly Quarriers Homes, is one of Scotland's oldest charities. Established by William Quarrier in 1871, Quarriers has developed into a modern social care charity that works with children, disadvantaged young people, families and adults with a range of disabilities.
As one of Scotland's leading charities, Quarriers works in more than ninety locations ranging from Dumfries and Galloway in the South; Oban, Mull and Tiree in the West; to Aberdeen in the Northeast. But a large number of its services remain in and around Glasgow.
Quarriers' services for children, young people and families include:
- Family Centres in Ruchazie, Glasgow and Greenock
- Supported accommodation for homeless young people in Glasgow, Oban, Saltcoats and Kilwinning
- Support for teenagers and families in rural areas
- Residential care for children who cannot be accommodated in their own communities
- Support and education for children who cannot cope in mainstream schools, with projects in Ardrossan, East Renfrewshire and Pollock, Glasgow
- Respite care, both residential and home-based
- Carers Centres in Oban, Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire
- Support to Taganka Children's Fund, a Russian charity in Moscow
Quarriers' services for adults with a disability include:
- Support for people living in their own homes
- Residential support for people needing 24 hour care respite care
- Family Placement Service
- Community Support aimed at maximising participation in the life of the community
- Assessment of epilepsy and support from Epilepsy Fieldworkers
Quarriers works in partnership with local authorities and other agencies to provide these services, but relies on voluntary donations to fund development of its work.
Our history
Quarriers began in 1871 when William Quarrier, a successful Glasgow shoe retailer, began caring for orphaned and destitute children in Glasgow.
He himself had experienced an impoverished childhood, which he overcame through hard work, determination and Christian faith. Quarrier realised that institutional orphanages were not the place to bring up children and determined to set up a children's village where poor children from towns and cities in Scotland might enjoy a new life in cottage homes, under the supervision of house parents.
With a growing band of committed supporters to help, he was able to purchase land at Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, and began to set up the Orphan Homes of Scotland. Over the next 20 years, the Orphan Homes developed as a self-contained community comprising more than 40 children's cottages, Mount Zion Church, a large school, a fire station, workshops, farms and other facilities.
William Quarrier also opened the first TB sanitarium in Scotland next to the village and began plans for a care facility for people with epilepsy, which opened in 1906, three years after his death.
During the 1920s and 1930s, more than 1,500 children lived in the village at any one time. In total, between 1878 and the mid 1980s, more than 30,000 children were cared for in Quarriers' Village.
The Orphan Homes continued operating much as Quarrier had begun, changing their name to Quarriers Homes along the way. In the early 1980s, major changes in childcare practice and legislation caused a drastic reduction in the number of children being cared for in this way.
In the period since then, Quarriers has expanded and become increasingly diverse, providing services to children, homeless young people, families and people with disabilities from locations all over Scotland.