Round The World In 2 x 80 Days – City Man Gets On His Bike

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Feb 162012

An Aberdeen man, set to cycle the entire circumference of the globe, has set off on his adventure. Stephen Davy-Osborne reports.

Kyle Hewitt, 25, of Northfield, boarded a train at Aberdeen on Thursday afternoon to journey down to London where his immense challenge will begin. Mr Hewitt has spent the last year training hard in anticipation of the gruelling task, and even undertook a sponsored stationary cycle through the Bon-Accord Centre to help raise awareness of his two chosen charities, Barnardos and Inspire.

While waiting to board the East Coast service that would take him south, Kyle was weighing up the challenge ahead.

“I’m ready to go!” he enthused

“The enormity of what I am doing will probably hit me in a moment of solitary abandonment, and I’ll probably be in the middle of nowhere, but right now I’m raring to go!

“My training has been going well recently. It has mainly been a case of winding it down and eating as much as I can, calorie-wise, although it has been hard trying to find the time to do so!”

The cycle will see Kyle travel 18,000 miles in just 160 days, arriving home in time for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, bringing the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe back to Scotland.

“I will definitely be home in time for the Games,” he added.

“I’d love to come home within 100 days, but you never know what could happen out on the road, and even just one little thing could slow me down, and end up hampering that.”

Despite not being daunted by the extent of what awaits him on his departure from Greenwich Park, there is one part of his journey which is a cause for concern.

“The big bit that keeps coming up is British Columbia and Alaska,” he confides,

“It’s quite solitary and by the time I get there in around 45 days time it will be time for the bears to wake up! And I imagine they’ll be quite hungry!
“But that’s the real sense of adventure; I can’t wait to get stuck in there!”

www.inspired2inspire.org.uk

Willows Open Day 18.02.12 – Top Musicians Support Charity

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Feb 032012

With thanks to Jenny and Kate at Willows

Willows Animal Sanctuary invite you to come along to an open day on 18 February from 12 noon to 4.00 pm.

Willows Patron Sandi Thom will arrive around 1pm, and autographed photos will be for sale with all profits going to Willows. Lush Aberdeen have generously donated a collection of treats to be raffled off.
There will be baked goods, ferrets and many more of the great variety of creatures that live at Willows will be on show – farm, domestic and wild animals are all given a shelter, and no healthy animal is ever put down.

In addition, legendary singer Paul Rodgers, founding member and songwriter from Free and Bad Company and member of The Firm; and his wife Cynthia sponsored 13 of Willows Animals for Christmas.

Paul said:-

“We heard the unusual story about the piglet Babe and her great escape and dug a little deeper to find that all of the animals were in need of sponsoring.”

Paul has also donated 100 copies of his latest DVD “Live in Montreux Paul Rodgers and Friends” featuring appearances from Queen’s Brian May, Journey’s Neal Schon, Jason Bonham and others.

Signed copies of Paul’s DVD are available at £25 from Willows online shop. Details of Willows at http://www.willowsanimals.com/ and DVD details/order form at http://shopatwillows.com/shop/catalog/search?shop_param , so even if you can’t make it to Willows on the 18th, you can still get a signed DVD.

Willows Animal Sanctuary is the largest sanctuary in Aberdeenshire and will try to help any animal in distress. We operate a strict no kill policy and only euthanise an animal on veterinary advice.

We look after over 300 animals including around 60 horses, ponies and donkeys, approximately 60 cats and dogs and many reptiles as well as over 100 farm animals and birds.

We are totally dependent on donations, legacies and grants from benevolent organizations to keep the sanctuary running.

We are entirely funded by public support and receive no government funding. Unlike larger charities we have no reserves of money and are desperately short of funds. We specialise in helping elderly or more vulnerable animals that have already been refused help by well known large national charities, but we can only continue to help needy animals with your support!

The Animal Assisted Therapy Unit at Willows

Willows helps many vulnerable people with its animal assisted therapy programme. The concept of allowing rescued animals to help vulnerable people on the road back to health is very innovative and has been independently evaluated and shown to be highly beneficial.The therapeutic placements and corporate team building days include equine management, animal husbandry, therapeutic music sessions, drama, bushcraft and mediaeval re-enactment Please contact us if you would like more details.

Willows Animal Sanctuary is situated on the road between New Pitsligo and Strichen (B9093)

Upcoming Events At Peacock

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Feb 032012

With thanks to Kylie Roux.

YOUR LEANING NECK – SONG AS PORTRAIT – Steven Anderson

Based on an event from November last year at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Your Leaning Neck is a performance project that aims to challenge institutional representations of national identity by giving voice to non-institutional values.

A silent video installation showcasing last November’s event from two perspectives will be shown in the Peacock gallery.

Saturday 18 February – Saturday 10 March

– Live Performance

Starting off at Peacock’s gallery then moving onto the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St Andrew, visitors will be treated to a live re-contextualisation of the performance event created as a site-specific response to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s collection of portraits from the Scottish Enlightenment. Within the performance, oral tradition singers are presented alongside contemporary artists who also use their unaccompanied voice as a means of expression.

Friday 24 February | 7 – 9pm | Peacock Visual Arts | FREE

GIG IN THE GALLERY – Martin John Henry

Recently praised by Sound-Scotland, as “one of Scotland’s finest songwriters”, Gargleblast Records and Peacock Visual Arts present Martin John Henry.

The Lanarkshire born singer songwriter is best known for fronting Scottish Rock Band De Rosa – critically lauded and championed by John Peel and Steve Lamaq – as well as writing, recording and playing with many of Scotland’s finest musicians including Barry Burns (Mogwai), Robert Johnston (Life Without Buildings), King Creosote and Malcolm Middleton.

Saturday 4 February | 8pm | £8 on the door

RESIDENCY/PERFORMANCE – ONE MAN UNIT – Paul Wiersbinski and Wieland Schönfelder

ONE MAN UNIT is a hybrid of man and sculpture. Through a variety of outputs, audiences are invited to interact with and experience the spontaneous and unexpected developments of this creative beast, as it evolves during the artists’ two-week residency at Peacock.
You can follow the construction of this half man half machine via their daily blog on Peacock’s Facebook page. The ONE MAN UNIT will then be let loose on the public on two occasions:

Saturday 28 January – Friday 10 February

– Note: Aberdeen Voice updates Peacock info periodically, but there may be recently added events not included in this post. Please contact Peacock direct for the latest information.

Peacock Visual Arts
21 Castle Street
Aberdeen
AB11 5BQ
Tel: 01224 639539
Mob: 07947 490626
e: kylie@peacockvisualarts.co.uk
Website: www.peacockvisualarts.com
Online Print Store: www.peacockvisualarts.culturelabel.com

Steven Severin – Peacock 14.01.12

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Jan 102012

With thanks to Kylie Roux.

Following on from a 30 date UK tour in the winter of 2010, Steven Severin returns to give UK audiences a rare opportunity to hear his new score for VAMPYR.

This is the third in Severin’s ongoing film accompaniment series – Music For Silents.

It’s is an alternative take on the cinematic vampire, creating an intense, nightmarish atmosphere that haunts the mind long after the lights go up.

Bassist and founder member of Siouxsie & The Banshees, Steven Severin, all too often erroneously called Steve is fulfilling a long held creative ambition:

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do from way back. From the early days of the Banshees in the late Seventies. It wasn’t until 1989 that I got my first chance and scored the short Visions Of Ecstasy – the only film EVER to be banned on the grounds of blasphemy! Quite a start, really.

“Things kicked off in earnest in 2002 when I scored my first feature, London Voodoo. After that I knew writing for screen would be my primary musical outlet.”

– http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/film/Steven_Severin

GIG IN THE GALLERY // Steven Severin – VAMPYR
Saturday 14 January 2012 | Peacock Visual Arts | 7.30pm

Tickets available from One Up, 17 Belmont Street £11.10 and on the door.
Call 01224 639539 for more information.

Click here for more info and other events at Peacock Visual Arts

Charity Cash For Cans

Aberdeen City, Articles, Charity, Community, Featured, Information, News No Responses »

Jan 072012

By Stephen Davy-Osborne, with thanks to David Forbes.

An Aberdeen charity is seeking all of your old aluminium cans to help them raise enough money to buy a much needed mini bus.

Future Choices Aberdeen was set up following the closure of the Choices Day Centre, which left a number of members of the community with nowhere to socialise in a safe and friendly environment.

The charity offers disabled people and their carers in Aberdeen opportunities to get involved in the community through a number of voluntary projects within the city.

They now desperately require much needed funds so that they can buy a minibus to allow them to get out and about in the city.

City carer David Forbes, 29, said:

“The Cash for Cans Appeal doesn’t ask for your money, it simply asks for your empty undamaged aluminium cans, which then can be used in exchange for cash to go towards getting the charity its dream.”

So far, the appeal has reached over 100 cans already and also received the backing from Dame Anne Begg MP, Lewis Macdonald MSP and many other local high profile individuals. Even local schools are getting on board this appeal.

To support the Cans for Cash Appeal, please donate any aluminium cans to:

The Stewart Craft Centre,
Unit 2,
Deemouth Business Centre
South Esplanade East,
Aberdeen, AB11 9PB,
or alternatively to Lewis Macdonald MSP Office, 80 Rosemount Place, Aberdeen. AB25 2XN or call Mr Forbes on 07821700046 to arrange a pick-up.

Contact Aberdeen Charity, cash for cans appeal on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003294062956&ref=ts

A Nuclear Incident On The Clyde – 2nd Jan 2012

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Jan 062012

With thanks to Dave Watt.

There have been twenty-three acknowledged serious nuclear accidents to befall the worlds U.S. and Soviet nuclear forces.

There have been 16 crashes involving British nuclear submarines since 1998.

Despite this there appears to be a certain amount of complacency as regards the nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch on the Clyde.

The ex-Armed Forces Minister Dr John Reid said in letters to MPs:

“It is planned that potassium iodate tablets would be distributed before any release of radioactive material had occurred at a time determined by monitoring the condition of the reactor”.

“We will always get advanced warning if something was to go wrong” – Andy Moore MoD

“There has never been an accident involving a nuclear powered submarine reactor which has led to, or come anywhere near leading to, any release of radioactive contamination to the environment” – Dr John Reid, ex-Armed Forces Minister

Aberdeen CND presents :

A Nuclear Incident on the Clyde – 2nd Jan 2012

At the NEXT ABERDEEN CND MEETING
MONDAY 9th January- 7.30 p.m.

Belmont Picture House, Belmont St, Aberdeen
in MEETING ROOM ON TOP FLOOR.

Image credit © Rhouck | Dreamstime.com

City Man In 1000 Mile Charity Cycle ‘Through’ Bon-Accord Centre

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Dec 152011

Are you feeling inspired to do something for charity this festive period? Maybe cycling, walking, running – maybe not ? At least you can go along, show your support for an amazing fundraising effort and hand over some of your hard-earned cash for a great cause. Voice’s Stephen Davy Osborne caught up with cyclist Kyle Hewitt.

An Aberdeen man is cycling 1000 miles through the Bon-Accord Centre this week to raise funds for charity. Perched atop a stationary bicycle, Kyle Hewitt, 25, is undertaking the marathon mission to help raise funds for local charity Inspire and national children’s charity Barnardos.
He began peddling on Monday morning, with much support from friends, family and passersby, and hopes to reach his goal of 1000 miles by closing time on Sunday evening.

Still peddling hard, Kyle took some time to speak to the Aberdeen Voice:

“Inspiration is the biggest reason that I am here. I was inspired to get out there and do something different by people that have done something different, enduring and challenging in the past. It is really about me doing what I was inspired to do, but instead of just being inspired and doing it, I’m hoping to keep the inspiration chain going. So from one person inspiring two others, two others will inspire four others and so on.”

However, this event is just a mere warm-up for a significantly more arduous challenge which faces Kyle in the New Year. On February 18th, he will be cycling out of London’s Greenwich Park on an 18,000 mile circumnavigation of the globe, aiming to be back in London within 160 days in time for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

With less than nine weeks to go until he sets off, Kyle’s enthusiasm remains high.

“Time is ticking away, and even the weeks are into single figures now! It’s a whole years planning coming to a head and it’s really exciting to watch it all click in the last worrying few months!”

Kyle can be found in the Bon-Accord Centre atrium until Sunday evening.

For further information check out: www.inspired2inspire.org.uk

North County Tennis Competition At Westburn

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Dec 152011

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

This weekend will see Westburn Tennis centre host the annual North County Inter District Red, Orange and Green (ROGY) competition, between the 4 districts in the North County.

This event, now in its 2nd year, was set up by North East District Coach Vikki Paterson

Vikki commented:

“I am heavily involved in the running of the North County Cup teams from Under 10’s through to Under 18’s and this is a great way to see the younger players coming through for the years ahead. It is a great opportunity for the players to play in a team and represent their district.”

On Sunday 18th of December the finals of the North East Red and Orange tour will take place, involving the top 8 boys and top 4 girls at Under 8 and Under 9.

This year the ROGY Tour events have recorded over 800 matches, a substantial increase on the previous year, much to Vikki’s delight.

“This year NESTLA was granted funding from Awards For All, and this has allowed me to put on more events, including indoors ones too. We have had really good support from the local players and Sunday should provide some great tennis.”

Taking part are:

Under 8 Boys
Cameron Jappy (Westhill)
Ewan Smith (Alford/ Westhill)
Finlay Smith (Westhill)
Alex Grant (Westburn)
Harrsha Pradeep Kumar (Dls)
Ross Grant (Westhill)
Benjamin Hine (Westhill)
Todd Blacklaw (Rubislaw)

Under 8 Girls
Varada Kamte (Cults)
Abigail Doran (Stonehaven)
Rosie Sterk (Stonehaven)
Caitlin Fraser (Tarland)

Under 9 Boys
Greg Smith (Alford/Westhill)
Ewan Smith (Alford/Westhill)
Cameron Jappy (Westhill)
Angus Edward (Cults)
Jamie Connel (Rubislaw/DL’s)
Hauoorn Arsher (David L’s)
Angus Harold (Grant on Spey moray)
Harrsha Pradeep Kumar (David L’s)

U9 Girls
Jodie Harris (Stonehaven)
Rosie Sterk (Stonehaven)
Varda Kamate (Cults)
Caitlin Fraser (Tarland)

For further information contact – Dave Macdermid – dave.macdermid@bigpartnership.co.uk

Poetry and Song For A Peaceful World

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Dec 082011

Aberdeen Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament invite you to enjoy with us an evening of

Poetry and Song for a Peaceful World

.
Friday 9^th December,

Quaker Meeting House,

98 Crown Street,

Aberdeen

Performers include:

Gerard Rochford, Kirsty Potts, Dave Davies, Lorna Grant, Bob Smith, Hilda Meers

Little-known originals and world famous poets will be represented, with new contributors welcome.

Also Open Mic
Admission Free
All Welcome

Complimentary mulled wine and mince pies provided

Doors open 7pm for a 7.30pm start

For more info contact Sally at: sally@hjke.org

Winter Wonderland At Union Terrace Gardens

Aberdeen City, Articles, Community, Events, Featured, Information, News No Responses »

Dec 042011

On 17 December Union Terrace Gardens will become a Winter Wonderland, and your artwork (if you’re 12 years old or younger) could win you a prize.

Suzanne Kelly gets the information from the organisers.

Everyone is invited – come along to the Gardens from 1 to 3.30pm, and enjoy seasonal treats for all ages, including the Cairngorm Reindeer, Christmas carol singers, a display of the winning artwork, and more.

This is an Eden Project inspired community event.

Children’s’ Artwork Categories are:

Age 4-7 – Draw or paint a picture of snowflakes falling or a beautiful Christmas tree
Age 8-9 – Draw or paint a picture of brightly coloured presents – under the trees or a giant snowman
Age 10-12 – Imagine all the different fun things you could draw or paint – perhaps you and all your favourite toys having fun, or sledging on the slopes
Gift vouchers for first, second or third prizes (£30, £20 and £10) will be awarded for all age groups.
Your artwork can be in crayon, paint, pencils, pens – anything!

Send your artwork before 10 December to:
Christmas Competition, c/0 270 Holburn Street, Aberdeen AB10 6DD

Further information – email mrsb_cafe52@hotmail.com,

Union Terrace Gardens
17 December
1 – 3.30pm.

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