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Royal Deeside Speed Festival, Sun 21 Aug 2016

Aberdeenshire, Information No Responses »

May 192016

Enthusiasts will be heading to Aberdeenshire this August for the inaugural Royal Deeside Speed Festival, to be thrilled by the largest gathering of rare supercars, exciting performance cars, motorbikes, and historic racing cars in the north east of Scotland.

Kincardine Castle. Venue of the inaugural Royal Deeside Speed Festival

The Royal Deeside Speed Festival will take place at Kincardine Castle, 20 miles to the west of Aberdeen.
The event will be based around a demonstration speed hillclimb, and complemented by a range of high quality trade stands and motoring attractions. The Royal Deeside Speed Festival will follow the ethos of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Cholmondeley Pageant of Power.

The venue, an iconic Scottish castle in the heart of Royal Deeside, is home to Andrew and Nicky Bradford.

Situated in the pretty conservation village of Kincardine O’Neil and overlooking the banks of the River Dee, it is only 10mins from Banchory on the A93. The picturesque castle grounds will also play host to car clubs along with a local food, drink and craft festival.

As well as the motorsports action we will have family attractions, a climbing tower and kids’ funfair. We will be supporting the charities Mission Motorsport, Help for Heroes and Children 1st.

However, the main focus of the day will be the fabulous and fast ‘West Drive’ – which will be converted into Deeside’s first speed hillclimb course, designed by Scottish hillclimb champion Roy Napier, and featuring a series of demonstration class runs throughout the day. And in another new twist, the West Drive will also play host to a Soap Box Derby – an event open to teams who wish to build their own Soap Box and race down the hill for glory!

Key attractions this year include Aberdeenshire’s charismatic race driver Chris Chilcott who will be bringing his 1962 Brabham BT2. It raced in 1962 at Goodwood and Monaco, driven by Jack Brabham and Frank Gardner, and took the class Silverstone lap record at 103mph. Also Charlie Williams, multiple TT-winning motorbike racing legend. With 21 TT podium finishes to his name, Charlie is bringing bikes.

Onsite, there will also be an adventurous off-road 4×4 course including the fearsom ‘Willie’s Drop’, courtesy of Land Rover Experience Scotland, offering passenger rides throughout the day, and The Clan BMX stunt team will entertain with their crazy extreme cycling show.

We have a large club stand field, along with a separate concours d’elegance area, both will surely delight the public and the owners alike. A broad cross-section of fantastic cars, ranging from the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F50, and Lamborghini Diablo through to the Shelby Cobra 286, 1969 wide-dash body Opal GT and Jaguar E-type Series 1 Roadster will be on show. In total there will be over 50 static exhibits to marvel over.

Additionally, the Ferrari Owners’ Club, Ford Modern & Classic Scotland, Aberdeen MG Owners’ Club, Aston Martin OC, and the Scottish Subaru OC are just some of the clubs that have confirmed their attendance – with over 170 club cars now confirmed to be on display.

This could quite possibly be the most unique and exciting collection of vehicles ever brought together in Aberdeenshire, highlighting the diversity of classic, contemporary and interesting cars, street-legal or competition, which we have here in the north east of Scotland.

Amongst the many dealerships and trade-stands that we are excited to have attending the event, we are delighted to welcome back Park’s Motor Group of Hamilton who will be showcasing a collection of luxury and sports cars from McLaren, Maserati and Bentley.

Murray Motor Group will be displaying the Lotus range. We also welcome Pentland Land Rover Elgin who are excited to show off some fantastic Land Rovers, and Shirlaws of Aberdeen will provide two-wheel excitement from Kawasaki and Triumph.

Finally, in addition to the car related exhibitors, we are delighted to be able to use the event as a showcase for local producers of food, drink and crafts. Deeside Brewery will be hosting a mini beer festival on the castle terrace alongside the castle’s own pop-up café, and the picturesque wall garden is the setting for a market of local produce.

Castle owner, Andrew Bradford writes:

“I first did ‘a ton’ on the drive when I was 15 in a friend’s MGC. A couple of years later I was the passenger in a V8 AC Cobra and clocked 115mph on the drive. For over 40 years that has been the unofficial speed record for our drive and I look forward to it being well-and-truly broken in August.

“We’re excited to be part of this major event which, quite possibly, will be the biggest crowd in Kincardine O’Neil since King Edward I of England arrived here on 2 August 1296 with 30,000 men-at-arms and 5,000 mail-clad knights”.

Royal Deeside Speed Festival,
Sun 21 August 2016:
09:45am- 5:15pm

Venue:
Kincardine Castle,
Kincardine O’Neil,
Aboyne,
Aberdeenshire AB34 5AE

Tickets:
Adult £15, Child £12.50, Family £50 (up to 3 children).
Advance sales via website or cash only tickets on the gate.
Free parking.

For further information please visit our website rdsf.co.uk or follow us on Facebook.

SNP’s Alternative Queen’s Speech Welcomed By MP

Aberdeenshire, Opinion 1 Response »

May 192016

With thanks to Kenneth Hutchison, Parliamentary Assistant to Dr. Eilidh Whiteford

Banff & Buchan MP Dr Eilidh Whiteford has welcomed the release of the SNP’s Alternative Queen’s Speech at Westminster, saying it offers “a real alternative to Tory austerity.”

The Queen’s Speech today will highlight the Conservative Government’s legislative agenda for the coming year, and will likely include increases to tuition fees at English universities, and a weakening of the prerogatives of the Lords – where the Government has suffered a string of recent setbacks.

Speaking in advance of the Speech, Dr. Whiteford said:

“We now have a situation where the UK Government has failed to meet its own targets on key economic indicators. Debt, deficit, borrowing, productivity, innovation, trade, exports – you name the target, the Tories have missed it. Austerity has choked off economic growth – and the UK’s trade deficit is now at its worst position since 2008.

“The upshot of austerity is that, inevitably, it’s the poorest in society who pay the most. We’re calling for a modest – 0.5% – increase in public spending, which would help mitigate the worst impacts of austerity, and boost economic growth.

“The only way to tackle the deficit is to grow the economy, and it’s a lesson this Government has singularly failed to take on board. Choking off investment when it’s needed most is economic madness.

“With Labour mired in in-fighting, the SNP represents the only real alternative to a Tory Government. We want a fairer country, and that’s what we’ll keep fighting for at Westminster.”

Other proposals in the SNP’s Alternative Queen’s Speech include:

measures to boost exports
a Fair Tax Bill to crack down on tax evasion
a real Home Rule Bill, including devolution of social security, corporation tax, broadcasting and resource management
reform of Westminster, with replacement of the House of Lords by a democratically elected second chamber
an end to arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

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[Aberdeen Voice accepts and welcomes contributions from all sides/angles pertaining to any issue. Views and opinions expressed in any article are entirely those of the writer/contributor, and inclusion in our publication does not constitute support or endorsement of these by Aberdeen Voice as an organisation or any of its team members.]

New Field Sales Representative For John Lawrie Group

Aberdeen City, Articles No Responses »

May 192016

Danny Collie, John Lawrie Group Field Sales Representative

With thanks to Kirstin Gove, Consultant, Innes Associates.

Metal recycling, steel trading, decommissioning and environmental services company John Lawrie Group has appointed Danny Collie to the newly created role of Field Sales Representative.

Based at the company’s main office in Aberdeen’s Greenbank Road, Danny will be responsible for promoting the company’s full range of services including scrap metal collection and recycling, reuse opportunities and decommissioning to the oil and gas industry as well as service companies and the construction, agricultural and engineering industries.

Danny brings a wealth of experience to the new role having joined John Lawrie Group from Ferrier Pumps where he was responsible for maintaining client relationships across a wide range of industries including oil and gas, food and drink, marine and construction.

The 28-year-old father-of-one from Aberdeen has also worked in a technical sales capacity within the recruitment industry working on a number of roles ranging from CNC machining, design engineering, subsea and well servicing.

Having now taken up the new post, Danny has quickly become involved with John Lawrie Group’s three main divisions which provide key services to the oil and gas, construction and utility sectors. The metals division remains the largest metal recycler and exporter of processed scrap metal in the north and north east of Scotland, and handles around 200,000 tonnes of metal each year.

John Lawrie Tubulars is a leading specialist in the trading of new and reusable tubulars, casing and drillpipe around the world, while John Lawrie Decom has been processing redundant equipment and the dismantling of oilfield and industrial structures for more than 20 years.

Commenting on his new role, Danny said:

“I’m thrilled to be joining John Lawrie Group which has an enviable reputation and track record in delivering for its clients. Despite the growth of the company, it remains committed to providing the very best service and solutions to its clients.

“As one of the foremost companies of its kind in the UK, I am looking forward to helping John Lawrie Group maintain the highest standards in customer care, recycling and reuse and sustainable environmental services.”

John Lawrie Group Environmental Director, Ray Grant, said:

“Danny is a strong addition to the team at John Lawrie Group and we are delighted to welcome him to the company. With the advent of forthcoming legislative changes in metal recycling from this September, his excellent track record in securing new business and developing strong client relationships will undoubtedly be instrumental in helping us achieve our longer term growth strategy.”

Established in Aberdeen in the 1930’s as a scrap metal merchant, John Lawrie Group now offers a diverse range of industrial services including metals, tubulars and decommissioning, and has developed an enviable reputation for quality customer service. It is one of the country’s leading privately owned companies and employs a 100-strong workforce across operations in the UK, America and Europe.

For more information about John Lawrie Group, visit www.johnlawrie.co.uk or telephone 01224 871844.

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Jo McCafferty Lemon Tree Date To Aid Charity: 11.06.16

Aberdeen City, Featured, Information No Responses »

May 192016

Jo McCafferty to play at The Lemon Tree in aid of the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

With thanks to Stuart Mitchell.

Acclaimed Aberdeen singer/songwriter Jo McCafferty will take to the stage of local venue the Lemon Tree on the 11th June in a rare local show in aid of the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

Jo has been playing since she was a teenager, both solo and in various bands including Charlotte Says and Modern Uses for Velcro.

She released her first album ‘Nothing Whispered to Katy’ at 17 years old.

In 2001 she released the album Radiaxial, an album featuring many live favourites which seemed to capture a lot of people’s imagination, this led to a lot of interest from various musicians and led to a lot of support slots and for the next few years Jo toured the UK playing with artists as diverse as Midge Ure and Glenn Tilbrook, Marillion and Donnie Munro, playing venues from the Amsterdam Paradiso to Croydon’s Fairfield Halls via Glasgow Barrowlands.

In 2004 she also found time to record and release Papercuts and Lime, an acoustic album which won more praise and notice.

In 2005 Jo was invited to be a guest support for US Singer/Songwriter Amanda Palmers first solo gig in the UK, and she formed the Jo McCafferty Band to play the show. The band was a big success and has reformed several times since to play special shows. In 2006 she started work on her first full length full band album, eventually released in 2010.

In recent years since starting a family Jo has pulled back on live and recorded work, still finding time to do an occasional special guest spot for Joan Armatrading, Fish and Miles Hunt, as well as appearing as a special guest for Marillion at their fanclub convention in the Netherlands, an event attended by over 3,000 people from around the world.

For this rare show in aid of SAMH at the Lemon Tree on June 11th 2016, Jo has pulled together some well-known and respected faces from Aberdeen’s music scene to reimagine songs from throughout her career, from some old favourites, to new material, as well as some rarely heard gems.

Jo commented:

“It is lovely to be playing a full band gig in Aberdeen again, something I haven’t done for over 10 years and even better to be doing it in aid of the SAMH, a charity very close to my heart. It’s been great to revisit and reinterpret the older stuff and look ahead with some newer stuff, and it’s just incredible to be doing a home gig like this at one of my favourite venues.”

Support for the gig will be from highly rated local singer Craig John Davidson.

Tickets are available on: http://www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/events/jo-mccafferty

And for further information on Jo or SAMH please see:
www.jomccafferty.com
www.samh.org.uk

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View Of Aberdeen Harbour Beamed To The World

Aberdeen City, Environment, Featured No Responses »

May 192016

With thanks to Jessica Murphy, Senior Account Executive, Citrus:Mix.

It has been at the heart of bustling harbour life in Aberdeen for centuries and now live images from the iconic Roundhouse are being beamed across the world.
Views from webcams recently installed at the charming historic building, which houses Seacroft Marine Consultants, give a fascinating insight into the hive of activity in and around Aberdeen Harbour and beach.

From bottlenose dolphins which are often spotted at the harbour entrance to impressive vessel movements, the variety of sights which the Seacroft team enjoy are far from the views you might expect from an office.

Michael Cowlam, technical director at Seacroft, was one of the first to share photos of a more unusual phenomenon witnessed in previous years from the Roundhouse, with his images going global and being shared on social networking sites.

Stormy conditions and high winds in September 2012 forced foam from the North Sea inland, transforming Footdee into what looked like a winter wonderland, with the spume making it look as if a snow storm had hit the area.

Michael said:

“While we can’t promise another incredible event like that, we are sure that images of the hustle and bustle of the port’s activities and the areas surrounding our office will be popular. The Seacroft team feel privileged to work in such a historic and unique building, particularly as we are the first business to call it home since it closed its doors as Aberdeen Harbour’s facility for controlling all vessel movements around the port”.

“We have been in the Roundhouse for seven years now and the view from our windows never fails to impress. This is one of the main reasons we decided to install webcams and share that with people around the world.”

“A particular favourite of ours is the large pod of the dolphins that are often visible around the harbour mouth. The RSPB’s Dolphinwatch is based close by so it really is a great position to observe them from. While based in Aberdeen we carry out work globally, which makes it even more special for us to open up Scottish harbour life to more people.”

The Roundhouse was reinvented as an unconventional office space by its owners, the Aberdeen Harbour Board, as they looked for other uses for a facility which had been superceded by the construction of the £4.5million Marine Operations Centre in 2006.

The four webcams set up from the C-listed building focus on Aberdeen Beach and Bay to the north, the harbour entrance and out to sea eastwards, across the harbour navigation channel to Girdleness in a southerly direction and across the main harbour turning basin to the west of the building.

Established in 1995 by Captain Roderick MacSween, the firm has been owned and operated by the founder’s daughter Jennifer Fraser and Michael Cowlam since 2004.

Synonymous with its location, Seacroft has built its reputation in the marine assurance and consultancy sphere – and has expanded its expertise to offer a range of services to clients with maritime interests worldwide.

Specialisms include marine assurance packages, OVID and CMID inspections, International Safety Management audits and dynamic positioning assurance as well as simulator training in ship handling and bridge resource management. Seacroft have also recently appointed Paul Young as Marine Manager and continue to expand their capabilities into the Marine Warranty and Rig Move sectors.

Jennifer added:

“We could not have found a better fit for Seacroft than the Roundhouse and are so lucky to work in such an incredible and beautiful setting. We are delighted to be showcasing this and the hive of activity around our office to the public and hope people enjoy our scenery as much we do.

“Aberdeen’s rich maritime history surrounds the Roundhouse and it is very special for us to be adding our own chapter to it. We celebrated 20 years of business last year and are proud of the knowledge and expertise in our busy team. Everyone here is passionate about our surroundings and life in the marine sector and love sharing that.”

Seacroft has also been at the forefront of innovations in emergency response and rescue vessel (ERRV) services, including in formulating vessel sharing arrangements which have been adopted by a number of oil and gas operators to streamline provision allowing oil companies to operate safely but more efficiently – a process that is now recognised in industry guidelines.

For further information visit www.seacroftmarine.com and click on ‘Webcams’ to see the views.

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White Wood Forum: Thur 26 – Fri 27 May, Huntly

Aberdeenshire, Environment No Responses »

May 162016

With thanks to Kate Sargent.

For millennia, storytellers, musicians, artists and indigenous thinkers have engaged with the sensitive nature of our planet, exploring the complex relationship ecologies, economies and cosmologies have with people and all matter.

At the core of all this is a concern for the environment and obtaining peace.

The White Wood Forum is a continuation of thinking about art and ecology began by Joseph Beuys, whose practice both literally, with acorns from his 7000 Oaks, and conceptually sowed the seeds for The White Wood.

As a living monument to peace, created by the people of Huntly, the wood will grow and change as the oaks mature over the next 300 years. Working as an artist, pacifist and environmentalist, Beuys’ work acts as a confluence between social and cultural perspectives of sustainability: local and global understandings and lived practices around the world.

Our current eco-political system is designed by and for the very few, resulting in unending conflict and ecological decay. What world can we dream of for future generations? And what contributions can art and community make?

Focusing on the nexus between art, peace and ecology the White Wood Forum will ask how art can be in harmony with the key principles of sustainability, including next to ecology – social justice, grass roots democracy and non-violence.

By bringing together people from arts, anthropology, ecology, politics, peacemaking and locality, The White Wood Forum will ask how we can foster a culture of complexity, an art and a community that impacts the future, to the benefit of generations to come.

White Wood Forum

Thurs 26 May 7pm: Ex-Servicemen’s Club, Huntly.

Prof Tim Ingold: The Sustainability of Everything
Screening of 7000 Oaks with Q&A

Fri 27 May 9am-7pm, Stewarts Hall, Huntly.

Chair: Deirdre Heddon, Prof. Contemporary Practice, University of Glasgow;

Keynote: Satish Kumar, long-term peace and environmental activist; Loïc Fel, Philosopher and Cofounder of The Coalition for art and sustainable development; Tim Ingold, Chair of Social Anthropology, University of Aberdeen; Robin McAlpine,Director of Common Weal; Shelley Sacks, Prof. Social Sculpture, Oxford Brooks University; Georges Thierry Handja, Mapping Coordinator at the Rainforest Foundation UK; Rhea Thoenges-Stringaris, 7000 Oaks Society/Kassel; Caroline Wendling, White Wood artist; and others….

7pm Peacemakers’ Ceilidh with the Strathspey Fiddlers, Gordon Arms Hotel

Sat 28 May White Wood Opening Ceremony and Gala day. More info here.

Tickets:

White Wood Froum: £25 Early Bird/£35 regular; £10 Students/AB54 Citizens/White Wood planters (includes ceilidh)

Peacemaker’s Ceildh only: £5

White Wood Gala: free event

The Obituary Project At Peacock: Wed May 18

Aberdeen City, Featured, Information No Responses »

May 162016

The Sea [is still] Around Us.

With thanks to John Morrison.

As director of The Obituary Project, a compendium of experimental salvage ethnography that transforms a daily form of narrative, Hope Tucker reframes the passing of sites, people, communities, rituals, cultural markers, and ways of being.

Peacock Visual Arts presents selections from The Obituary Project this Wednesday, 18 May 2016, 6.30pm.

She has documented shuttered bread factories, fallen witness trees, and disappearing civil rights era landmarks; animated cyanotypes of downwinders and old instructions for making fishing nets by hand; recorded mobile phone footage of the last public phone booths in Finland; written the entire text of a video out of paper clips, a Norwegian symbol of nonviolent resistance; and retraced the path of protest that closed the only nuclear power plant in Austria.

Screening programme:

Missing in the Severe Clear
USA, 2001 / 4 minutes/ sound
‘Severe clear’ is aviation slang for clear, crisp, blue skies with boundless visibility.

Vermont says goodbye to Solzhenitsyn
USA, 2012/ 4 minutes/ surveillance video/ Russian with English titles
The Russian writer spent twenty years in exile in a remote American village. This pixelation, part one of a
diptych, was shot on the anniversary of his death.

Lolo Ferrari
USA, 2001 / 2 minutes/ corrupted sound file
An obituary whittles one’s social contribution down to its barest form.

Puhelinkoppi (1882-2007)
Finland, 2010/ 8 minutes/ mobile video/ Finnish with English titles
Marking a shift in the functioning of private and public space, after existing as a sidewalk staple for over a
century, the phone booth in Finland is now extinct. A Nokia camera phone documents the passing.

Noel
UK, 2005 / 5 minutes/ sound
A songwriter’s identity remains as obscure as his motives for penning a popular American holiday standard.

Bessie Cohen, Survivor of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
USA, 2000 / 3 minutes/ sound
The last ninety years of a complex life become eclipsed by an escape from a burning building.

Big Star
USA, 2003 / 3 minutes/ sound
The map-maker grew up down the street from where the car hit the tree and rode many a Big Star cart.

Handful of Dust
USA, 2013/ 9 minutes/ mono recording from 1953
Prussian blue can be used to render images and counteract radiation poisoning.

Vi holder sammen/ We hold together
Norway, 2011 / 4 minutes/ Norwegian with English titles
A typeface formed by hand from paper clips spells out an imperfect construction of a national history as it
visualizes a period of nonviolent resistance.

The Sea [is still] Around Us
USA, 2012/ 4 minutes/ sound
Rachel Carson is dead, but the sea is still around us…this small lake is a sad reminder of what is taking
place all over the land, from carelessness, shortsightedness, and arrogance. It is our pool of shame in this,
’our particular instant of time.’ E.B. White, 1964

About the artist

Hope Tucker transforms what we know as a daily form of terse, text-driven, populist narrative through The Obituary Project, a compendium of moving image that gives new life to the antiquated documentary practice of salvage ethnography.

She has animated cyanotypes of downwinders and instructions for making fishing nets by hand; photographed shuttered bread factories, fallen witness trees, and decaying civil rights era landmarks; recorded mobile phone footage of the last public phone booths of Finland; written the text of a video out of paper clips, a Norwegian symbol of solidarity and nonviolent resistance; and retraced the path of protest that closed the only nuclear power plant in Austria.

Works from the project have screened in festivals, museums, and galleries including 21er Haus, Vienna; Ann Arbor Film Festival; Cairo Video Festival; European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück; Images Festival, Toronto; International Film Festival, Rotterdam; Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino; New York Film Festival; Punto de Vista, Pamplona; Vox Populi, Philadelphia; Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Zagreb Dox.

* Downwinders refers to the individuals and communities in the intermountain area between the Cascade and Rocky Mountain ranges who are exposed to radioactive contamination or nuclear fallout from atmospheric or underground nuclear weapons testing, and nuclear accidents.

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Whiteford: “Government Owes WASPI A Fair Hearing”

Aberdeenshire, Opinion 3 Responses »

May 162016

With thanks to Kenneth Hutchison, Parliamentary Assistant to Dr. Eilidh Whiteford

Women campaigning for fair pensions ‘deserve a fair hearing’, according to the SNP’s Pensions Spokesperson, Dr Eilidh Whiteford. The comments come following a meeting between MPs and campaigners representing Women Against State Pension Inequality.

WASPI represent thousands of women born in the 1950s, who have now been hit twice by increases to the retirement age.

To date, the UK Government has announced no compensatory schemes for those who will lose out as a result of the changes.

While the SNP believes that the state pension age should indeed be equalised, the party has criticised the manner in which the UK Government has implemented its changes, in the face of significant opposition from opposition parliamentarians and civil society.

Speaking after the meeting with WASPI campaigners at Westminster, Dr Whiteford said:

“It is profoundly unfair that these ladies have worked their whole lives, only to be told that their retirement age is being raised not once, but twice. They deserve a fair hearing from the UK Government.

“The UK Government has railroaded these changes through parliament without heeding the real impact this will have on women born in the 1950s. Stephen Crabb’s statement to parliament seems to indicate that there’s still no change whatsoever to the Government’s position.

“Constituents affected by these changes should be assured, however, that I and my fellow SNP MPs will continue to keep pressure on the Tories to look again at how these changes are implemented.”

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“How Many Left?” At Grampian Transport Museum

Aberdeenshire, Information No Responses »

May 162016

With thanks to Martyn Smith, Marketing & Events Organiser, Grampian Transport Museum.

There is less than a week to go to the second How Many Left? – a celebration of the endangered cars which were once a common sight on the roads.

The event, now in its second year, will once again be held at the Grampian Transport Museum and highlights cars that were at one-time mass produced but of which there are now less than 500 still remaining.

Building on feedback from participants and visitors to last year’s successful inaugural event there has already been more than 140 vehicles registered to participate this year, and entries are now closed.

Amongst this year’s entries is an Opel Commodore A Coupe.In production from 1969 to 1971, it was a six cylinder version of the Opel Rekord. 156,330 were produced including the 2.5 automatic version owned by Alan Norrie of Longside which is the only registered example left in the UK.

This car was originally sold in 1972 from University Motors, King Street, Aberdeen and Alan has owned it since 1984. He used it as his day-to-day car prior to putting it in storage, but fully restored it last year.

Also appearing will be a ‘model’ Lotus. Gordon Masson of Aberdeen is the owner of Lotus Esprit S1 with a chassis number 0100G, making it the first ever production model of the famous Esprit line. The car is undoubtedly a star and Gordon’s Esprit has been used as part of the Lotus Esprit ‘time-line’ at Brands Hatch in 2013 and has featured in many photo shoots including last year at historic Brooklands, which featured in Octane magazine.

Last year Corgi models, in collaboration with Lotus, approached Gordon with a view to creating a 1/43 limited edition scale model. The scale model was released this year and is extremely accurate right down to the registration number.

An unusual visitor this year comes from behind the Iron Curtain. Dominik Walicki is the owner of an ex-Polish Army UAZ 496b off-road light weight military vehicle.

From 1987 until 2007 it was a mobile radio vehicle before being sold to a private owner. Dominik purchased it in 2013 and has spent many hours checking and repairing the electrics and mechanical parts. The car, which is believed to be the only one in Scotland, was described by Jeremy Clarkson as “the worst in the world”, but Dominik strongly disagrees saying that his work has resulted in a very reliable car that can be used every day.

How Many Left? – A celebration of the forgotten classics
Sunday 22nd May 12noon to 4pm.

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“RAM It Down” At The Garage This Weekend

Aberdeen City, Featured, News No Responses »

May 162016

With thanks to Mark Chalmers.

RAM It Down Festival began as a grass-roots effort in 2015, organized by volunteers, inspired by established events down south, with the belief that Aberdeen should not miss out on touring bands visiting the city.

The first year was a success and around 160 metalheads descended on The Garage Aberdeen to indulge in their favourite pastime.

Festival organizer, Mark Chalmers remarks,

“The response to RAM It Down Festival has been overwhelmingly positive. Many people in the Aberdeen area are really passionate about their favourite style of music – heavy metal. We even have a number of private donors, who have donated large sums of money because they want to see this type of event in Aberdeen.”

The festival has been extended this year to include an extra and 60% more bands on the line-up, featuring artists from as far away as Sweden.

Paul Nazarkadeh, guitarist of London-based De Profundis commented on their upcoming slot on the festival,

“De Profundis have played all over the UK in our decade long existence, but never have we come so far north as the Granite City.”

The main driving purpose of RAM It Down Festival is to bring touring bands to Aberdeen and put them alongside local bands.

Festival organizer, Mark describes,

“One of the reason’s I decided to organise RAM It Down Festival is because I personally got fed up of people talking-down Aberdeen. I believed that people could do something about the things they are dissatisfied about, rather than simply complaining. I wanted more touring bands to come to Aberdeen, so this was my attempt to provide a solution.”

One of the heaviest bands on the line-up are Saturday main stage headliner, Winterfylleth. Based in Manchester, Winterfylleth have experienced international success and played many of the major festivals across Europe and extensive coverage in music magazines, such as Kerrang and Terrorizer.

A spokesperson for the band commented,

“It’s great to be invited to play RAM It Down Festival and bring our music to one of the furthest north cities in the UK and to play to fans who might not have a chance to see the band otherwise. See you on show day.”

There is a wide range rock and metal sub-genres represented on the line-up, varying from classic rock-inspired bands, such as The Amorettes and King Witch, as well as extremely heavy bands, such as Winterfylleth and Cambion. Most bands however fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum, so there should be something to please most rock and metal fans.

Date: Friday 20th and Saturday 21st May,
Bands from 6pm (Friday) and 5pm (Saturday).

Venue: The Garage, 17 Windmill Brae, Aberdeen

Tickets available online via Skiddle, or in-person at Seratique, 20 Belmont Street, Aberdeen
2-Day Ticket: £15,

Friday Ticket: £6 advance (£7 on the door), Saturday Ticket: £10 advance (£12 on the door)

Friday Lineup (1 stage): Cambion, Risen Prophecy, Sanctrum, Neshiima, Orynthia.

Saturday Lineup (2 stages): Winterfylleth, De Profundis, Red Rum, Ramage Inc, Zombie Militia, Cleanse The Hive, The Amorettes, King Witch, Rats of Reality, Drencher, Frelsi

Pics courtesy of Dave Reed and Corina Andrian.

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