In her early life Catherine Gurney worked with the poor in London and having become aware of the work of the police began to devote herself to the welfare of Police Officers. In 1889 Miss Gurney found a place in a convalescent home for a young policeman. She later heard he had left the home and returned to work early, having been given a bed next to a violent criminal whom he had previously arrested. 

 

Miss Gurney decided to provide a convalescent home for police officers and established the Southern Police Convalescent Home on the south coast the following year. Demand from officers from northern forces led to the establishment of a Home in Harrogate in 1897.

 

For two years the Home occupied half of St George's House, the police orphanage. In 1899 the decision was taken to build a new Home on the upper field of St George’s at a cost of £10,000 (about £814,000 in today’s money). Donations were received from members of the public and police forces and, within two years, almost all of the monies required had been raised. As soon as the home opened, police officers began attending for rest and recuperation and the doors have remained open to them ever since.

 

The Police Treatment Centre, St Andrews, still occupies the same site on Harlow Moor Road . The centre has greatly expanded and over the years the services provided have developed to meet the changing nature of police work. In 1996 a major new development took place with the opening of a Police Treatment Centre in Auchterarder, Perthshire. Castlebrae was purchased for £630,000 in 1994. Work to alter and extend the building began the following year at a total cost of more than £3 million. Funds were raised by increasing the rate of donations made by serving officers and by approaching individuals, police forces, the Scottish Police Federation and police charities including the Police Dependants Trust.