The Aberdeen Incident & the Aberdeen Brethren Community

Aberdeen is a city in the north-east of Scotland with a population of around 224,000. Famous for its granite buildings, the North Sea oil industry, fishing and one of the largest heliports in the world, it is also home to the most significant split in the history of the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren.

There is a cult living amongst us — secretive and determined, as part of their doctrine, to separate themselves from the world wherever possible. Aberdeen is one in a series of profiles of how Plymouth Brethren communities operate across the UK.

James Taylor Jr and the Road to Aberdeen

The split occurred under the leadership of James Taylor Jr, who was at the very centre of the controversy. Taylor Jr, an American from Brooklyn, New York, had taken over the leadership of the Brethren in 1960 following the death of his father James Taylor Sr in 1953. Under his leadership up to 1970, the sect was shaped by a series of changes and the stricter enforcement of doctrine — in many ways laying the building blocks for the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren we see today.

Members were forbidden from eating with non-members, from living under the same roof as non-members (including their own family), from attending university and even from keeping pets, leading to many family animals being put down. They were discouraged from working for non-community employers, and there was strict enforcement of existing doctrine preventing members from joining trade unions or professional associations.

It was also a time of change within the leadership itself. The future leader John S. Hales — father of current leader Bruce Hales — was excommunicated for a period, reportedly for attempting to commercialise the Brethren. It was widely reported that Taylor Jr was an alcoholic.

The Aberdeen Incident, July 1970

In 1970, the three-day meetings were held across various weekends throughout the UK. Taylor Jr had already ministered in Reigate and Preston before arriving in Aberdeen towards the end of July. As was customary, the leader stayed with a local elder, and Taylor Jr was a guest of leading Aberdeen member James Alec Gardiner at his home in Abbotswell Crescent, in the Tullos/Kincorth area of Aberdeen. Earlier in his UK visit, Taylor Jr had stayed in Harrow with English Brethren couple Alan and Madeline Ker, who had since flown to Scotland and were also present in Aberdeen.

On Saturday 25th July, Taylor Jr ministered at the three-day meeting held at the Music Hall in Aberdeen. It was reported that his address — fuelled by whisky, his lubricant of choice — included swearing, blasphemy, and was rambling and incoherent. The congregation responded with laughter, at times hysterically.

That evening, back at the home of James Gardiner, events escalated. Gardiner and another leading Brethren member, Stanley McCallum, had grown concerned about the amount of time Taylor Jr was spending alone in his bedroom with Madeline Ker. After knocking repeatedly on the door without response, they opened it to find Taylor Jr in bed with a naked Mrs Ker. Taylor Jr left the following morning and returned to New York.

The story received national press coverage. Through a series of denials and shifting accounts from Taylor Jr, the scandal continued to unfold. A photograph also emerged showing Taylor Jr with Mrs Ker, taken while her husband Alan was away on business. The incident reverberated throughout the Brethren worldwide. It culminated in Taylor Jr excommunicating communities from fellowship, with many communities shunning him in return. This was particularly pronounced in Scotland, where followers left in large numbers. In total, approximately half of the global Taylor Plymouth Brethren are believed to have left fellowship in the weeks that followed.

Taylor Jr died just a few months later, in October 1970. The new leader, James Symington — a farmer from North Dakota — subsequently claimed the Aberdeen Incident had been a revival for the Exclusive Brethren. The Plymouth Brethren's own website describes Taylor Jr, after ministering on four continents in the months before his death, as "physically exhausted."

In a final twist, the grandson of the late Madeline Ker is today employed by Sante Group — the company awarded Covid contracts of approximately £950 million under its previous name, Unispace. Madeline and Alan Ker went on to become directors of the family business Orthene Chemicals, now run by their son Charles. Techniclean Supply was part of Orthene Chemicals before being sold to two other Brethren families in 2018, and was itself awarded a PPE contract worth £20 million in 2020.

The Aberdeen Community Today

The Aberdeen Brethren community today is one of the smaller UK communities, with an estimated 120 to 150 members drawn from seven main extended families: White, Ross, Hoare, Doughty, Watkins, Alexander and Wilkinson. They are located to the north of Aberdeen, in an area stretching from the Bridge of Don up to Ellon — the opposite side of the city from where the Aberdeen Incident took place.

In terms of the Brethren hierarchy, Aberdeen does not appear to be a leading community. It is likely secondary in seniority to some of the Peterhead Brethren families. Tim White is likely the leading community member, based on his business turnover, his involvement with OneMediUK and Jesmond Construction, and his name appearing on the recent planning application for a new meeting room in Ellon.

Brethren Businesses in Aberdeen

At least four companies owned by members of the Plymouth Brethren community have been identified in Aberdeen. Only one is of considerable size.

Tim White of Ryno and Whitesales is also a director of OneMediUK — the company responsible for the trust that operates the Brethren's private medical insurance scheme. Other directors include Doug Cowie from Peterhead, Tim Pocock of Covid contract winner Origin Packaging, Ben Turner (father-in-law of former Conservative minister Michelle Donelan), Bruce Hazell (uncle of Anthony Hazell of Unispace/Sante and CMT Equipment) and Stephen Kirkpatrick, based in Sydney and one of Bruce Hales' closest acolytes. White is also a director of Jesmond Construction, the company behind the building of new meeting rooms in both Peterhead and Aberdeen.

Meeting Rooms

The Aberdeen meeting rooms are operated under the Scottish registered charity Jesmond Gospel Trust (SC024174). For the financial year ending 5th April 2023, the charity reported income of £36,200 and expenditure of £147,930, including a transfer of £50,000 to the Peterhead Gospel Trust. Over the last four years, Jesmond Gospel Trust's expenditure has exceeded income by over £200,000. The charity reported assets of over £2.4 million and cash of over £500,000 at April 2023.

There are currently two meeting rooms: the main city meeting room in Balmedie and a smaller room in Belhevie, adjacent to a Brethren member's home in a converted former workshop. Planning permission has been granted for a third meeting room situated behind the Tesco supermarket in Ellon — an unusual location given that it sits 5 to 10 miles north of where the majority of the Aberdeen community reside.

It is noteworthy that in the week prior to the Ellon planning application being approved, two Rapid Relief Team members — Jared White and Joel Doughty — attended a meeting with the local MSP, Gillian Martin. The Brethren meeting rooms are set up in an octagonal arrangement. Men sit closest to the centre and are the only ones permitted to speak or preach. Women are confined to the fringes. There are no religious artefacts or symbols within the rooms. The main Balmedie room can hold up to 800 people and occasionally hosts three-day meetings drawing attendees from a much wider area — meetings that are reportedly held at capacities that raise health and safety concerns.

OneSchool Global & Campus & Co

Aberdeen Brethren children attend OneSchool Global Caledonia at Millden, Balmedie — a campus shared with the Peterhead community, located on the site of the former East Aberdeenshire Golf Club. The Caledonia campus has a second site in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, and together the two sites serve 177 pupils. This suggests the total Brethren population across Scotland is approximately 1,000 members. Caledonia is one of 27 OneSchool Global schools in the UK.

The campus was formerly owned by Springvale Education Trust, which gifted the site to Brooklands Education Trust in February 2023. Brooklands is also the parent of Tempo Group Ltd, the trading arm of the charity which operates the Campus & Co stores in Scotland. Brooklands Education Trust reported funds of over £3.1 million in their accounts for year ending 31st December 2022. Glenn Ross of RS Machinery is a director of Tempo Group Ltd.

There is no Campus & Co store in Aberdeen itself — members must travel to the Peterhead store. A planning application for a new Campus & Co store in Peterhead has recently been approved. The 68 Campus & Co stores across the UK are staffed entirely by unpaid female Brethren members and retirees, are supplied by national wholesalers including the Co-op and Morrisons, and are managed centrally from UBT offices — with overall control from Bruce Hales' offices in Sydney. We estimate global Campus & Co turnover to exceed £50 million. We also estimate that each Brethren household in Scotland could be spending around £10,000 per year at Campus & Co.

The Rapid Relief Team in Aberdeen

The Jesmond Gospel Trust's annual accounts detail its Rapid Relief Team activities as evidence of advancing religion for public benefit. In the most recent reporting period, the Aberdeen RRT attended Maggie's Cultural Crawl, a Dyce Family Day, Kayleigh's Wee Stars cycle event and the fire at the Altens recycling plant — providing a total of 645 meals. They also supplied Balmedie Primary School with Early Bird Learning Kits on multiple occasions. Separate from the RRT, the Jesmond Trust made several food bank donations totalling £966.16.

The total estimated value of charitable giving by the Jesmond Gospel Trust and the Aberdeen Rapid Relief Team is in the region of £5,000. Given the wealth of the companies, the trust and the families of the Aberdeen Brethren, this represents little more than loose change — and raises serious questions about whether their charitable activities genuinely evidence advancing religion for public benefit.

Conclusion

The Aberdeen Brethren are a typical Plymouth Brethren community. They live and work within the community but play no active part in it unless there is a financial benefit for their business or their charity. Even in a small community like Aberdeen, the clear hierarchy of Hales Brethren control is evident. This community of 120 to 150 people holds wealth of approximately £50 million — yet the vast majority of that wealth lies with just a few selected and trusted members. The remainder are coerced, fearful and trapped in a life controlled by others. That is what Bruce Hales and his chosen few use as their instrument of control: fear. Nothing more, nothing less.

This is not a church, an evangelical sect or a Christian group. It is a commercial operation for the benefit of the Hales family and a small circle of allies. After the Taylor Jr incident in 1970, it is sobering to reflect that the few remaining members in Aberdeen today still accept a coercive control every bit as ruthless as that which tore their community apart more than fifty years ago.