In 1878, Glasgow shoemaker William Quarrier founded an organisation which offered help to the thousands of destitute children in Glasgow’s infamous slums. A few years later, Quarrier’s Village was opened providing a refuge to the abandoned and the orphaned in the rolling fields of Renfrewshire. Since these beginnings, Quarrier’s has cared for over 40,000 children in need. It now runs a diverse range of support and care programmes for children, adults and families in 85 projects across Britain.
Here, Anna Magnusson explores the stories of the people of Quarrier’s past and present, and celebrates the achievements of the charity over the last century. The result is a detailed record of the organisation’s evolution and an inspiring story of one man’s legacy.
Anna Magnusson is a radio producer and broadcaster with BBC Scotland. In 1984 she published the first edition of The Village, the history of Quarriers Homes, and in 1996 produced a two-part radio documentary about the Quarriers ‘Home Children’, sent to Canada as part of a mass child emigration movement.
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