The Workshops

A brief background history of the workshops

The Royal Aberdeen Workshops for the Blind and Disabled was originally founded in 1843 from a bequest left by 2 local ladies who wanted to provide a school and workplace for blind children and adults in the Aberdeen area. It was then known as the blind asylum the word asylum now an obsolete term meant a place of safety for the care of the ill, the aged or the poor. Thus the workshops were established as a charitable institution relying on the donations of benefactors from the Aberdeen and surrounding areas. The title changed to the Royal Aberdeen Workshops for the Blind & Disabled when it was granted royal charter by Queen Victoria in 1889. All succeeding monarchs have approved the title ‘Royal’ as part of our name.

The Workshops Today

The Workshops products together with a range of complimentary factored goods are sold both to the contract and domestic markets. Contract customers include local authorities, residential and nursing homes, hotels, guest houses, universities, oil industry supply companies.

We have an extensive showroom on Wellington Road that was modernised in 1998 and our aim is to provide customers who visit us with a pleasant stress free shopping experience with high levels of personal service backing up the quality and value of the product. The skills of the workforce have been learned and refined over many years and being essentially a handcrafted operation the workshops are particularly well placed to manufacture non standard items to customer’s individual specifications and requirements as each spring that goes into a mattress is made on site.

Every item produced is manufactured with pride using rigorously tested fire retardant fabrics, materials and wood from renewable forests using both traditional and modern techniques.

Looking towards the future

At Glencraft we are always looking at new ways of improving the product and service we offer, since the summer of 2006 all our beds are manufactured for dual purpose and reach the crib 5 fire hazard specification, we have taken possession of a new spring making machine and over the next few months we are looking towards gaining the British Standard certificate BS17177

We have come a long way from the days when ‘basket weaving’ was the main form of occupational therapy at the Blind Asylum. We now have a reputation for quality workmanship and excellence a fact that all our employees can be justifiably proud.

Factory

At Glencraft we are proud to have a factory where we are able to combine the traditions of bed making, with our skilled workforce and the latest in technology including the recent purchase of a new spring making machine. With this combination it is safe to say that the beds we manufacture are made to the highest quality.

We have an extensive showroom where our customers can browse at all our products in the comfort and knowledge that our sales team is qualified in helping you find the best product to suit your needs.

Open 6 Days Excluding Public Holidays

*These times may vary