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On the
outbreak of war in 1939 the Government was gravely concerned about the
safety of the nation’s children. The experience learnt for the Spanish
Civil War had shown the kind of damage to life and property that was
possible as a result of air attack and thus the Camp School Act was passed
and hastily put into operation in 1939.
Children were evacuated from Scottish cities to five camp sites in
Scotland:
Dounans at Aberfoyle in the Trossachs
Abington in the Southern Uplands
Middleton at Gorebridge in Midlothian
Meigle in Perthshire
Broomlee at West Linton in Peebleshire
Known as the “Wee Vacies” the children and their teachers were housed in
blocks of wooden dormitories built of Canadian red cedarwood with metal
bunk beds with a dining hall and assembly hall. Broomlea or example could
accommodate 300 children. Many children stayed in these camps for five
years until the end of the war in Europe and although the surroundings
were entirely unfamiliar to city children many have very happy memories of
their time as a “wee vacie”
When the evacuees were sent home the Scottish Camp Schools were used to
house refugee children from the Netherlands where German occupation and
war damage had left the people with little food or shelter.
In 1947 the Scottish National Camps Association was established and some
of the original camps still survive today as outdoor centres for primary
pupils and youth groups.
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