Secretive Community

There is a 'cult' living amongst us, one that is secretive and one that chooses as part of their doctrine to separate themselves from the world wherever possible. This is the story of how a brethren community is operated in the town of Peterhead.
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Peterhead is a  small town with a population of circa 18,000, located on the North East coast of Scotland, known locally as the 'blue toon', it is a fishing town, the biggest port in the UK in terms of fish landed.  It has also benefitted from it's locality to the North Sea Oil & Gas  fields.  Peterhead like 90 other towns and cities across the UK is home to a small settlement of followers of the controversial 'cult' known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, previously the Exclusive Brethren.

Since 2006 I have visited Peterhead many times and it is a place I am fond of and know well. In my line of work I have become friends with a number of small business owners in the town. I recently asked the question, did they know that a Plymouth Brethren community resided in the town? It was no surprise to me when they all gave me a similar response 'no, never heard of them or do you mean the ones where the  women wear scarfs on their heads'.  It is the same across the UK, where if you look closely, you will find that there are communities of  Plymouth Brethren members who separate from what they call "worldlie people".  It is a 'cult' that is hiding in plain sight. 

The 'cult' has a number of odd rules and some of these rules appear to have transformed a previously evangelical church into nothing more than a commercial enterprise . One that is focused on the accumulation of wealth, a 'cult' where its leader, Sydney based businessman Bruce Hales and his family have built one of the largest property portfolios in North West Sydney. Hales control could be viewed as coercive, as to go against the self proclaimed 'Man of God' is quite clearly the worse sin a brethren member could commit.  The rules include separation from anyone who is not inside the fellowship, this has led to the devastating impact of splitting families apart, when one member escapes the 'cult' they are unable to see their family or friends who remain in the 'cult'.  Other rules include no TV's, no ties, and no radios in cars.  The brethren are unable to 'break bread' with non community members and thus dine apart in workplaces and rarely visit restaurants. They are not allowed to share a drain with a "Worldlie" and therefore must live in detached properties. 

The brethren are prevented from working for companies who are not owned by brethren members. You will not therefore find a brethren member who is a  Doctor, Nurse, Fightfighter, Lawyer, Teacher, Civil Servant  or serving in the armed forces. This means that they give little back in terms of public service and yet they are granted charitable status for advancing religion for public benefit. It is of note that they are not allowed to vote but are allowed and actively encouraged to lobby politicians, particularly those on the 'right'.  It is often reported that the brethren can't use computers, this is far from the truth. The brethren use computers in all their businesses and at home, they are however controlled strictly by access restricting software called Streamline. This is similar with mobiles phones.  All IT and phones must be purchased centrally through a brethren company called UBT at exorbitant costs. It is also reported by ex-members that phones are used to track the movements of members.  UBT have their own apps,  for the news, music and brethren member contact details. Ex-members report there are high levels of depression and alcohol abuse inside the brethren, with children as young as five, encouraged to drink high content alcohol at the early meetings on a Sunday.

The vast majority of members are born into the 'cult'. They attend brethren schools from the age of 6 or 7, they work for brethren companies. To escape often means leaving behind their family, friends, employment and homes.  It is not a 'cult' you can just join.  This is the Hales Plymouth Brethren formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren.  The wealth is accumulated at the top and it is reported that poorer brethren members have had to resort to food banks.  A cult that see non-members as the devil, living in an evil world. It has been reported that they pray for the death of opposers, often these 'opposers' are ex-brethren members and sadly there own families are praying for their demise.

The history of the Plymouth Brethren goes back 200 years to Dublin, Ireland. They were founded by John Nelson Darby.  The brethren have  encountered many schisms in the last two centuries. One could argue that the group of brethren that today fall under the leadership of Bruce Hales, is anything but that of a very distance relative of the brethren founded by Darby.  It was not until changes implemented under former leader  James Taylor  Jr in the late 1950's and 1960's, particularly in terms of the separation doctrine, that this branch of the Plymouth Brethren became so controversial. This controversy continues under leader Bruce Hales who in the last 20+ years  has developed it into the current ecosystem/corporation it is today. In simple terms it is, a wealth-accumulating business enterprise, that uses coercion, fear and control to keep its flock in place.

Brethren families of Peterhead

There are six extended brethren families in the Peterhead community. These  are the Cowie, Rabey, Whitbourn, Hill, Knight and Smith families. There are other family names though these would likely be through marriage into one of the six main families. 

There are connections to some of the elite brethren families in the UK. Mark Woodcock who married one of the Cowie family, is the brother of a highly influential brethren member Garth Woodcock. We believe that Peterhead brethren members Graham Whitbourn and Doug Cowie are high in the ranking of the UK brethren elite.

​The Cowie, Whitbourn and the Rabey families run the most successful companies and therefore under the current Hales wealth regime, they are likely to be the leading brethren families in this community. We estimate the size of the community to be somewhere between 100 -150. Less than 1% of the population of Peterhead. As this is a money driven cult, it would be expected that the properties they live in, would all be in the top 5% in terms of property value in the town.

Brethren business in Peterhead

There are least seven companies that we have found owned by members of the Plymouth Brethren community in Peterhead. They include some of considerable size, including Keycraft, Nuvik, Orca Hygiene, Ocura Healthcare Furniture & Caledonian Stone.  We estimate that these seven companies employ in the region of  170 people, though it is likely that these are not all located in Peterhead, with Ocura having a business address in Kent and Nuvik also having offices in England. Our estimate is that this would equate to circa 40 to 75 of the non-brethren community being employed by the brethren companies in Peterhead.

Keycraft

​Keycraft Ltd is the largest of the brethren companies in Peterhead, employing 70 people. It is owned predominantly by the Cowie family. The business turned over £17 million in 2022 and sits on very healthy net assets/shareholder funds of over £5 million. Keycraft operates in the pocket money toy market, importing toys often from China.

At tourist attractions it is often common to come across a shop, often sited at the end of the attraction, with small cuddly toys and other 'low costs' items for children. This is where Keycraft products dominate, examples found in Scotland where you will find Keycraft products, include Edinburgh Zoo, Glamis Castle , Brechin Castle Centre and the Dundee Science Centre. We found at the latter, that nearly all the products being sold originated from Keycraft. 
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The company also own a 50% share in  Keycraft Australia Pty Ltd. It shares common directors as Keycraft Global Inc in North America, which owes almost £1.7 million to Keycraft Ltd. Finally the Covid contract winning company Orcagel company limited  shares common directors and shareholders and owes Keycraft Ltd over £1.4 million.

Our research suggests that Doug Cowie is close to the elite UK brethren members. Thanks to a contribution, we can now show share pictures of Doug's new property 'Cheriton' build by Kenway Homes.  (Kenway Homes also built the new meeting room on Waterside  Road).  This is not the only residential property built for the Peterhead/Aberdeen brethren.
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The value of this company is likely to be anywhere between £15 to £25 million.

Orca Hygiene

Orca Hygiene is another business owned by the Cowie family, employing 13 people. It  trades under the limited company Orca Global company  limited.  It was incorporated under the name Orcagel Company Ltd in March 2020, just after that start of the first UK lockdown during the Covid pandemic.

Orca Hygiene was one of the many brethren companies that were successfully awarded a Covid contract, they supplied hand sanitiser to Leeds County Council. The Cowie family were joined by the Woodcock brothers Mark  and Garth in setting up Orca Hygiene. Garth Woodcock was one of the founders of Unispace, which in turn is one of the UK's largest Covid contract winners. The Woodcock brothers are directors of Oska Care, another large  Covid contract winner. One of the Cowie family, Doug is a former director of Oska Care resigning in May 2020.

In the latest accounts published for 2022, Orca Global company limited show net assets on their balance sheet as a negative of almost £1 million. This is largely driven by the fact that the company owes companies with common shareholders or directors £1.4 million.  In terms of value  we would guess the company is worth between £1 million to £2 million.

Demco Group

Demco Group is the parent company of a number of subsidiary companies. These include Nuvik Global, Nuvik UK and Caledonian Stone. Demco Group is owned by the Rabey family. The last set of accounts (2022) show Demco Group with a turnover of £13.3 million. This is largely driven by the two Nuvik companies and their Uniwipe and Ultragrime brands.  

Caledonian Stone comes under a company called Caledonian Global Ltd,  a supplier of bespoke porcelain paving and employs 10 people. The company has net assets of  £338,000. 

Nuvik Global Ltd is the global supplier of the Uniwipe and Ultragrime cleaning wipes.  The company employs 14 people and declares net assets of £2.7 million.  We will get to the investment and growth of Nuvik Global later.

Nuvik UK Ltd, formerly Uniwipe Europe Ltd,  is the  UK supplier of the Uniwipe and Ultragrime cleaning wipes. The company employs 15 people and declares net assets of £1.9 million.  

Demco Group also owns 100% investment in  Nuvik  Europe SAS based in France.

In total Demco Group reports show they have  a total of 53 employees. We estimate that the company is worth a minimum of £10 million, possibly as high as £15 million.

Ocura Healthcare Furniture

Owned by the Whitbourn family, Ocura Healthcare Furniture is a subsidiary of Ocura Holdings Ltd.  Employing a total of 42 people, the last set of accounts for Ocura Holdings showed a turnover of £14.6 million. A highly profitable company with profits after tax of £2.25 million and assets of £8 million. 

The company supplies healthcare furniture to the NHS and private healthcare providers.  When you are sat for that long wait in an NHS Accident & Emergency department or if you manage to get to see a GP, you could well be sat on a chair supplied by Ocura.

Ocura was another brethren company that was awarded Covid contracts during the pandemic.  Winning contracts worth over £1.5 million with NHS England according to data from Tussell, a company that provides government contracts data insight.  It is also possible that Ocura were involved in the Nightingale hospitals and these contracts may not all be visible.

The shareholders are all members of the Whitbourn family or are married into the Whitbourn family in Peterhead. The company also operates out of Tunbridge Wells in Kent.

Our research would suggest that Graham Whitbourn is  one of the elite UK brethren members.

We would estimate a value of the company similar to the value of Keycraft, at somewhere between  £15 to £20 million. 

Other companies

There are a number of smaller brethren companies operating in Peterhead. These include Ashgrove Trading, owned by the Smith family, whose premises are located on the opposite side of the road to Nuvik.  It would appear that Ashgrove is not a limited company.  Greenx  which operates out of a small unit on the Keycraft site.  Trakka Safety which again  shows as operating out of the Keycraft site  (though we could see no signage for this business).

​We also identified a small unit on the Keycraft site for the Reading based Sapphire Balconies, one of the largest brethren companies operating in the UK and owned by the Parsons family.

Other business interests

Graham Whitbourn of Ocura is  one of two directors of a company called UBT Holdings Ltd. Arguably the biggest brethren company in the UK, as it is the parent of UBT (EU) Ltd. The Universal Business Team known by its acronym UBT is the central hub of the brethren companies in the UK. It is a central buying group that provides IT, HR,  Fleet, Recruitment, Consultancy, Training, and Accountancy specifically for brethren member companies.  It is also the controller of both OneSchool Global and Campus & Co. It has a turnover in the region of £100 million a year.  It is a non-profit organisation with all of the profit going to the school system and other brethren charities.

UBT head office in the UK is based at a building called the Precinct  in Warwick. The global UBT office is in a building called the Precinct in Sydney, Australia. The Sydney premises being at the centre of a raid on the 19th March, 2024 by the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

Whitbourn is also a former director of  Allerbrook Ltd and Scribefort Ltd. These companies are the trustees of some of the main brethren national charities including The Grace Trust.

Doug Cowie of Keycraft & Orca Global is  a director of  OneMediUk, this is the company that is responsible for the trust that operates the brethren private medical insurance scheme. There are 6 other directors including Tim Pocock of Covid contract winner Origin Packaging. Ben Turner the father in law of the Tory minister Michelle Donelan.  Bruce Hazell uncle of Anthony Hazell, the Covid contract winner with Unispace/Sante & CMT  Equipment. Stephen Kirkpatrick who is based in Sydney and is one of Bruce Hales closest acolytes. 
Cowie is also a director of Jesmond Construction  (Whitbourn is an ex-director). Jesmond is the company behind building new meeting rooms in Peterhead and Aberdeen. 

Value

Our estimated  value of the brethren owned companies in Peterhead, is likely  in the region of  £50 million to  £60 million. 

Vision Investment Fund

The brethren eco-system was created to further the separation of the Plymouth Brethren from the World. It was set up with the objective for the brethren to become self-sufficient and not require the use of 'worldlie' companies or people to support their survival prior to the rapture.

A major part of this objective was to create an equity investment venture. Its aim to provide the investment returns to fund the operation of OneSchool Global  and the brethren charities the National Assistance Fund and the Rapid Relief Team.

They call this equity investment venture the Vision Fund. The Rabey family company Demco Group provides insight in to how this fund works and how it is producing astounding  returns. 

The Rabey family originally owned 60% of Nuvik Global when it was incorporated in October 2018, with the brethren investment fund, Vision Accelerator Pty Ltd based in Sydney, Australia owning 40%. As part of this investment by the brethren investment fund, an Australian brethren member Ron Arkcoll was added to the board of directors. 

Digressing slightly, it has recently been reported that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) have raided the premises in Sydney of the brethren Vision investment fund (the same premises as the UBT global office), it is also reported they raided the home address of Ron Arkcoll. 

​Vision Accelerator took a 40% share in Nuvik Global, investing £600,000. In the latest set of accounts it  is highlighted that the Rabey's owned Demco Group have purchased the 40% share back from the Vision Accelerator for the cost of almost £2 million.   The investment of £600,000 was made in October 2018 and just 4 years later in September 2022, the Vision Fund received £1,950,000  in return. We are unable to see if there were any additional dividend payments paid to the Vision Fund in the four years they owned 40% of Nuvik Global.

Separate from the Vision Fund and the investment in Nuvik Global in October 2018, another company was formed. This was Uniwipe Europe Ltd, now called Nuvik UK Ltd, with the Rabey family taking a 90% shareholding, the other 10% being owned by the trading arm of the brethren charity Rapid Relief Team.  The trading arm is aptly called  Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd, a company incorporated in June 2017 with a loan/investment of £200,000 from the parent charity Rapid Relief Team, which was paid back in 2021.  

There does appear to be a potential conflict of interest with the Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd as Edward Rabey is the local team leader for the Rapid Relief Team and a director of Nuvik UK Ltd.  Edward Rabey having also presented information about the support that Rapid Relief Team can provide to the Buchan Local Community Planning group as part of Aberdeenshire Council.  In another connection Ron Arkcoll, a former director Nuvik Global, is the managing director of the Rapid Relief Team in Australia.

When cross-referencing the investment made in October 2018 into Nuvik UK by the Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd, we noticed that the Nuvik UK accounts show an investment in their 2019 accounts by a minority shareholder of £40,000.

It does not appear clearly in the Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd accounts for 2019. One can assume this is reported under trade debtors.  In the 2020 accounts the £40,000 investment can clearly be seen under fixed asset investments.  Again in the 2021 accounts it is clearly visible, however it would also suggest that some kind of dividend was paid by Nuvik UK, as under interest received and other similar income we can see  an amount of £112,222 reported. A profit was made of £65,313. In September 2022, the Rabey family via Demco Group purchased the 10% shareholding from Rapid Relief Trading Ltd for the sum of circa £422,000.  It would appear that the Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd did not fully trade in 2022. They took the £422,000 from Demco Group, balanced the books and returned £420,510 to their parent charity the Rapid Relief Team.  Clearly a fantastic return on investment of £40,000 over 4 years. Potentially receiving £112,222 in dividends and then selling their 10% share for £422,000. In total the £40k investment returned up to £534,222!  A total of £485,823 going back to the parent charity Rapid Relief Team.  

In summary the brethren ecosystem benefitted to the tune of almost £2.5 million on investments of £640k in just 4 years. This is just one example, in one community of how the brethren are increasing their wealth, by using their connections, charitable status & charities to fund investment.

OneSchool Global

The Peterhead brethren children attend the OneSchool  Global, Caledonia  at Millden, Balmedie, Aberdeen. This is approximately 20 miles south of Peterhead  and is the school for brethren children from  the communities of Aberdeen & Peterhead. The school is on the site of the former East Aberdeenshire Golf club. Oneschool Global Caledonia has two sites, with a further site situated in Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Caledonia is one of 27 OneSchool Global schools in the UK.

​Brethren members are actively involved in the OneSchool Global structure.  We have found that for the  Caledonia campus that Nick Walker is the regional lead,  Walker is better known for being one of the directors of Covid  PPE contract winner Clandeboye Agencies Ltd.  Greg Paterson is a regional lead for concerns around the headmaster/mistress. Peter Shimwell is listed as the contact for safeguarding issues at the Caledonia campus. Neville Smerdon being the regional lead for safeguarding. Edward Rabey was/is also involved in the Caledonia campus according to the last prospectus published.

The premises at Millden were formerly owned by the Springvale Education Trust. This Trust gifted the site to Brooklands Education Trust in February 2023. It would appear that Springvale Education Trust is no longer a live charity and that the Caledonia campus sites at both Alloa & Millden are now operated by the Brooklands Education Trust. Brooklands is also the parent of the Tempo Group Ltd. This is the trading arm of the charity and operates the brethren Campus & Co stores in Scotland. 

Brooklands Education Trust reported funds of over £3.1 million in their accounts for year ending December 31st 2022. 

Meeting Rooms

The meeting rooms in Peterhead are operated under the Scottish registered charity, Peterhead Gospel Trust (SC001847). For the financial year ending 5th April 2023 this charity reported an income of an astonishing £835, 271*.  At most we believe this community has only 150 members, which would equate to an income of over £5,500 per member including children! The charity showed  funds/assets of nearly £1.6 million for year ending April 2022 and this does not include the income for 2022/2023!

There are three brethren meeting rooms, which appears somewhat excessive for such a small community in a small town.  The main meeting room is the recently built site on Waterside Road, with two smaller ones located on Bell Terrace & Craignabo Road. The Craignabo Road site is up for sale for £85,000.

*At Open & Candid  we have frustration with the general lack of transparency and the speed of processing by the Office of the Scottish Charity Register (OSCR).  This is highlighted by the fact that the annual return for Peterhead Gospel Trust was received on the 4th January 2024 and as of the time of writing in March 2024 the accounts are still being processed to view on the OSCR website. In general we find that the transparency of charities in Scotland is much lower than charities based in England & Wales. 

The brethren attend regular meetings in their meeting rooms, with numerous visits on Sunday (the Lords day). The set up of the meeting rooms are in a octagonal shape and the men are the only ones allowed to speak or preach. They sit closest to the centre of the octagonal and women are only allowed on the fringes. You will find no religious artefacts or symbols within a brethren meeting room.   The main (City) meeting room will often hold up to 800 people or more and will host on occasion, what are called 3 day meetings with attendees from a much wider area. It is reported by ex-brethren members that these meetings can often have a crowd that is well above Health and Safety regulations in terms of capacity.

It is not straightforward to attend a meeting as an outsider.  This must be pre-arranged with the head office of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in Chessington, Surrey.  If you are well-disposed and approved to attend you will not be invited to the main 6.00am meeting on a Sunday.

Rapid Relief Team​

The Rapid Relief Team was created in 2013, it is the public facing arm of the Plymouth Brethren.  It predominantly provides refreshments to our emergency services at incidents across the Commonwealth & a few other countries where brethren communities are located.  It offers its services to other charity events.  It has on a global basis done plenty to support the people of Ukraine and those experiencing hardship with emergency support boxes. It is difficult to fault the work that the Rapid Relief Team undertake voluntarily each year. That is until you dig a little deeper.

The Rapid Relief Team was set up following the UK Charity Commission issue that the then Exclusive Brethren encountered back in 2012.  The issue started when the Charity Commission, as the regulator turned down an application from a gospel trust (a meeting room trust) for it to be registered as a charity. The regulator denied the gospel trust charitable status, concluding  that it did not advance religion for public benefit.   Bruce Hales and his UK brethren team led a long, hard and often 'dirty' fight to get the decision overturned on appeal. Lobbying at a level that few organisations would have the resources to match.  Obviously with the backing of many ignorant MP's, particularly from the Tory government benches, the appeal was successful and enabled the brethren to further achieve charitable status for over 130 gospel trusts across the UK and for other national brethren charities.

After this the Exclusive Brethren did two things, one they changed their name to the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a clever marketing gimmick to ensure both Christian and Church were linked to the brethren*, rather than the sullied name of the Exclusive Brethren. Secondly they created the Rapid Relief Team, this was also a very clever idea. It gave credence to all their future applications, in that it provided   evidence of advancing religion for public benefit.

The kicker to all this though is when you do the sums. The Times estimated that the charitable status was worth around £13 million to the brethren each year. Our calculations estimate  that it is actually worth more than £30 million and with the addition of the Vision Investment Fund, likely to be considerably more.  The cost to run the Rapid Relief Team in the UK currently is £1.6 million per year, a look through the accounts shows that only approximately half of that £1.6 million is actually spent providing support to the events listed above.  There is likely evidence that shows the majority of goods and services bought by the  Rapid Relief Team come from brethren member owned companies. We estimate the cost of running the Rapid Relief team (spend going outside the brethren) to be at most circa £250k a year.

In simple terms the cost of the Rapid Relief Team for each of its 16,000  UK members is circa £20, the benefit per member is circa £200.  The Rapid Relief Team provides a tenfold return and is brilliant PR. We have seen a document that is provided to all the brethren members who volunteer at one of the incidents or events they attend. This document talks about photo opportunities, about positioning to maximum impact. It is all about maximising exposure for the advancement of religion for public benefit or if we are  even more cynical it is about caring and protecting  'the goose that lays golden eggs'.

Since the inception of the Rapid Relief Team in 2013, it has developed another more beneficial, if somewhat more difficult to ascertain benefit. A benefit that I am sure was not envisaged by the brethren at the start.  One that has seen a significant structure to be formed by the brethren for managing the Rapid Relief Team activities. 

It revolves around beneficial contacts and access to influential decision makers. It involves two significant parties, one being politicians and the other being people in position to make procurement decisions. We have found plenty of examples where leading brethren members involved with the Rapid Relief Team have attended meetings with MP's, we already know that the brethren have actively supported many Tory MP's with leaflet dropping. The brethren through the Rapid Relief Team have now gained potentially advantageous access to scores of politicians through their charitable status.  Building networks of contacts in both local and national government. Contacts and networks that could be extremely valuable when so many of the brethren companies tender for government contracts at both local and national level. 

We have been made aware that all the Local Resilience Forums in the UK have been encouraged to include the Rapid Relief Team in their planning and discussions.  We mentioned earlier around how Peterhead based Edward Rabey, was the local team leader for the Rapid Relief Team and he was invited to present to one of the community planning groups for Aberdeenshire council. The invitations to the Local Resilience Forums has also been identified as unusual by one of the UK's leading disaster planning experts. 

The brethren have clearly seen the benefits, and in their ecosystem, the Rapid Relief Team falls under the category of preserving our way of life.  They are structured to have local Team Leaders, like Edward Rabey, and then they have regional activity co-ordinators, whose role one would imagine is to ensure maximum exposure at the right events and incidents. The Rapid Relief Team ensure all events are captured on social media. The fact that apart from LinkedIn  there members are not allowed to use social media and that they have very few followers and only occasional likes, has never deterred then in proving the advancement of religion for public benefit.

The self promotion of the Rapid Relief Team creates much anxiety and harm to ex-members, people who have managed to escape the 'cult'. They see posts which promote families being together, mental health awareness, or the promotion of  days like International Women's day. When their own personal experience is they are no longer  able to see their children or grandchildren who remain in the 'cult', that they suffer with mental health issues from years of coercion and control, from a misogynistic 'cult' that sees women as nothing more than breeding machines, volunteers and housewives.  Hypocrisy is often off the charts from a 'cult' where we have been provided details of homophobia, racism as well as the misogyny. 

Yet to the wider public, to other charities, to emergency service workers and even politicians the brethren are seen as the kindly, caring folk behind the Rapid Relief Team. One must never forget the irony of a group that separates itself from us the evil people, in the Devils world.  A group that does not contribute one doctor, one nurse, one firefighter or one public servant anywhere in the world.

*The move by the Plymouth Brethren to call themselves a church is in direct opposition to brethren founder John Nelson Darby, who around 1845, is quoted as saying that he and the brethren should withdraw (separate) from anyone who calls themselves a church. It is also of note that the use of the words Brethren Christian Church opens up the potential to abuse the "Stewards agreement" in Australia.

Campus & Co

Prior to our visit to Peterhead, we found an address for a Campus & Co store,  it was in close proximity to the Keycraft business. We were however unable to identify any signage for Campus & Co at the address provided by Aberdeenshire Council. 
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There is a planning application to convert a former fishmongers warehouse into a new store, this is also located close to Keycraft. The lack of knowledge of the brethren as displayed by the senior planner (it will like Costco!) and the enthusiasm to back by Conservative Councillor Powell is truly remarkable!  The application can be found here. On the application it states there are approx 285 members of the congregation, which will includes children and all the Aberdeen brethren. The opening of a Campus & Co store leads on average to the loss of 5 non-brethren jobs in each area*​

Campus & Co is the brethren member only retail  chain. If you are not brethren you will be politely turned away. Created as part of the eco-system to assist in the funding of OneSchool Global.  It would divert funds away from national grocery chains back into the brethren pot. There are over 100 Campus & Co stores across the countries in which the brethren operate.  The stores are supplied by the wholesale  functions of national chains such as the Co-Op and Morrisons. Though  the stores are  encouraged to use a brethren company for their alcohol  requirements. Expensive Whisky is the preferred brethren tipple!  The whole operation is ran centrally from the main UBT offices in each country, with the lead being in Sydney, Australia at the premises that were recently raided by the Australian Tax Office. 

Usually the stores will cover more than one community and often sit close to a meeting room, or on the premises of a brethren member business. They  are staffed purely by the female brethren members or retirees, both on a voluntary basis. The stores in most locations are very similar to high end small Waitrose stores, designed to the highest specification. The operation is run professionally by UBT, with a huge amount of training online, and regular marketing to the wider brethren population. If a brethren member decided to shop away from Campus & Co this would be to put themselves at risk of opposing the leader Bruce Hales.  We estimate turnover globally to be over £50 million and the  finances of each  store is managed by the local Educational Trusts which are charities, they each set up a trading company as a subsidiary of their Charitable trust. In Peterhead this would come under the Tempo Group Ltd, this is the trading arm of the  Brooklands Education Trust. Each community will supply trustees to the both the Ltd trading arm and the Educational Trust Charity.  Mark Rabey of the Demco Group is a director of Tempo Group Ltd.  

Each store is set targets to deliver with the profits being filtered into the charity and used for the upkeep of the school campuses and where possible to support struggling brethren parents with school fees .  The  turnover for the Brooklands Education Trust in their last accounts for 2022 was £2.7 million with a profit of over 350k. This will be predominantly driven by the Campus & Co stores in Scotland. A rough calculation is that this would equate to each brethren household in Scotland spending around £10,000 a year at Campus & Co! Plus a loss of 20 non-brethren retail jobs in Scotland. 

*calculated the reduction in turnover using Tesco turnover per employee. 

Commerce or Faith?

The Peterhead brethren are a typical Plymouth Brethren community.  They live and work in the community but play no active part unless their is a financial benefit for their business or their charity.  It is transparent that even in a small brethren community like Peterhead, that there is a Hales brethren hierarchy of control.  This community of 100-150 people have a wealth possibly in the region of £100 million.  Though it is clear that the majority of that wealth lies with just a few selected members. The majority will be coerced, scared, stuck in a life of fear. That is what Bruce Hales and is chosen few use to control, it is fear, nothing more, nothing less. This is not a church or an evangelical sect or a Christian group.  It is a commercial operation for the benefit of the Hales and a few of his allies.

For some context on the origins of this article, I am occasionally asked how I became interested in the brethren and why I spend so much time talking and posting about them?  I admit I didn't know of their existence until May 2020.  It was only when investigating the Covid contracts that I stumbled across this coercive 'cult'. Since then I have joined many ex-members in their battle to free 50,000 people from the tyranny of a 'cult' leader that destroys families,  who runs a commercial operation that controls its members from the cradle to the grave. One for which far too few people are even aware exists and one that hugely benefits from us the wider population, whilst hiding behind their charitable status.

It is often hard to explain to a non-brethren person that brethren members are born, schooled, brainwashed, coerced and monitored throughout their lives. It is difficult to even imagine that level of control in your own live.

Leaving the brethren is to step into an alien world, a world that you have been told since birth is controlled by the devil, that people are evil and will destroy you, that God will disown you and your family will be shamed  and have nothing to do with you. Where escaping will require you to find employment and a new home in a world  in which you will have no friends. It is a decision that I find almost impossible to comprehend.

Over the last 4 years  I have been fortunate to have met and spoken to many ex-brethren members who made that life changing decision to escape. They are scarred , will always carry the baggage, and have to  endure the pain of not being able to see loved ones, children, grandchildren, parents and grandparents.  They are all individuals who have similar stories to tell, they are some of the most determined, tough, uncompromising in their beliefs and caring people I have the privilege to know. They have big hearts and generosity, some fight to bring an end to the Hales regime, some fight to end separation from their families, some fight to highlight abuse, some struggle, others stay quiet, trying to forget the past and just want to move on with building a new life. They are all at different stages and have differing views on how to end the Hales 'cult'.  There is however one constant, one that shines from them all and that is they will never ever be controlled again.

Thank you for reading and please share, the fight to give these good people freedom from coercion and control can only be achieved through growing awareness and  hopefully will lead to governments to act.