Aberdeen City Archives - Page 68 of 206

Sleepout In Support Of Aberdeen Cyrenians

Jul 302015

With thanks to Phil Moar, Account Manager, Citrus Mix.

A leading north-east homeless charity is inviting teams to spend a night sleeping rough as part of a unique fundraising challenge.

Aberdeen Cyrenian’s popular sleepout event is set to return later this year and will take place on Monday, October 26, on the second floor of Union Square’s car park.

The event is encouraging teams of two to four people to grab a sleeping bag and spend the night sleeping rough to raise awareness of the reality and discomfort faced by a homeless person on a daily basis.

There will also be a fundraising element to the event, with each team tasked with raising a minimum sponsorship of £50 per person. This element has taken on added importance this year after the recent partial closure of the charity’s drop-in service at its Summer Street premises due to funding cutbacks.

The service, which has now been restored to its five days per week provision thanks to a number of generous donations, helps more than 200 vulnerable people every week and the charity is looking to cement the future of the service by urging potential teams for the sleepout to come together to raise much-needed funds.

Rachel Sanders, fundraising officer of Aberdeen Cyrenians, said:

“On the back of last year’s sleepout success as part of the RGU Events Management course, we’ve decided to bring the event back again this year and are opening it up to the public to try and get as many people as possible involved.

“This year, the event will take place in Union Square’s car park and we’re looking for teams of two to four people to take part. Obviously, with the recent cutbacks to our drop-in service, the fundraising element of the sleepout has taken on even more importance than in previous years so we’re really looking for support from across the city.

“The sleepout is both thought-provoking and heart-warming in that people can really begin to empathise with just what a homeless person goes through on a day-to-day basis. We’re really encouraging individuals, groups of friends, workplaces and other organisations who are interested in supporting Aberdeen Cyrenians to get a team together and join us for what is an incredibly important event for us.”

Ryan Manson, General Manager of Union Square commented:

“We have always admired the work carried out by Aberdeen Cyrenians so are delighted to be able to support the 2015 sleepout by hosting the event on Level 2 of our car park. Homelessness is a very real issue, not just across the UK but right here in Aberdeen, so we hope lots of people come out to support this fantastic event.”

For more information on the sleepout event, please contact a member of Aberdeen Cyrenian’s fundraising team on 01224 625732 or email fundraising@aberdeen-cyrenians.org. More information can also be found online at www.aberdeen-cyrenians.org

Aberdeen Cyrenians was established in 1968. In the last 46 years the range of services offered by the charity has grown considerably. Originally just providing food and shelter, the services now aim to meet all the varying needs of people affected by homelessness in Aberdeen and the surrounding area.

For more information please visit www.aberdeen-cyrenians.org

City Youth Council Builds International Relationships.

Aberdeen City, Community No Responses »

Jul 302015

With thanks to Martin Carle, Public Relations Officer, Aberdeen City Youth Council

The Aberdeen City Youth Council has been making excellent progress in its efforts to build strong and long lasting relationships with other youth councils and youth groups across the world.

The biggest progress ACYC has made is the recent exchanges it has had with the University of the Basque Country.

Youth Councillors travelled over to the university where they met with the speaker of the Basque Parliament, the Basque Youth Council and the representatives from the Ministry of Education.

The ministry was kind enough to have prepared a 2 hour presentation on teaching Basque languages at schools. On their visit to Aberdeen, the representatives of the Basque Country met with local politicians, council officers and ACVO.

More recently, ACYC chairperson Piotr Teodorowski had a conversation with the Secretary General of the Tunis Youth Council. As a further step, the two bodies plan to organise and hold a video conference on terrorism, which shall be organised later in August.

Youth Council representatives have also met with representatives of our twin city Gomel to celebrate 25 years of the relationship.

On future plans for the youth council, chairperson Piotr Teodorowski says

“International exchanges and cooperation is a great opportunity for young people to learn much more about the world. Aberdeen City Youth Council tries to stay in touch not only with our twin cities but also with any similar regions to ours. “

It really is a small world!

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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.]

Peace And Justice Conference: Saturday 5th Sept 2015

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Jul 302015

With thanks to Stephen Hadden.

Drilling Contractors Support Mental Health Aberdeen

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Jul 302015

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

A leading north-east charity has been given a surprise funding boost by the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC).

The North Sea Chapter of the organisation has donated £6,100 to Mental Health Aberdeen (MHA), after members supported the charity at their annual safety awards.

Attendees were asked to make personal donations to IADC’s two selected charities, MHA and Alzheimer Scotland.

The money raised was matched by the chapter, bringing the total amount to £12,200. This enabled the two charities to receive a donation of £6,100 each to help support their work.

Astrid Whyte, chief executive of MHA, said:

“This donation was a wonderful surprise and we were delighted to meet Derek Hart of the IADC to receive the cheque. Fundraising efforts like this are a fantastic help as we try to make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and families within our communities.

“Demand for our services is high throughout the north-east and this gesture will help us as we work hard to meet requirements. We would like to thank everyone at IADC who thought of us and contributed to the collection, it means a lot to us.”

North Sea regional director of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, Derek Hart said:

“We ask members for suggested charities each year as we have envelopes on the tables at our annual awards evening. It is not a fundraiser event as such but we take the opportunity to have a charity collection and always try to support local causes.

“We were pleased to be able to support such a worthwhile charity, and know that it will help enable MHA to maintain the hugely important services it offers across the north-east of Scotland.”

Founded in 1950, MHA offers a range of resources which include emotional and practical support, information and advice, support with helping overcoming social isolation, links and access to other community resources as well as activities promoting mental wellbeing. Based in Aberdeen, the charity has centres throughout the north-east in towns including Aboyne, Banff, Ellon, Peterhead and Inverurie.

The organisation was among the first to provide community care – with its first residential project, a group home for discharged psychiatric patients, opened more than 35 years ago. MHA has also been providing day services continuously for over 60 years.

The International Association of Drilling Contractors has represented its members in the worldwide oil and gas drilling industry since 1940. The North Sea Chapter has been in existence for 42 years, and is one of 15 active Chapters worldwide. Over the last ten years, the North Sea Chapter has donated almost £200,000 to local charities.

Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Day – Thurs 6th Aug 2015

Aberdeen City, Environment, Featured No Responses »

Jul 302015

With Thanks to Jonathan Russell and Aberdeen CND.

Thursday 6th August sees the 70th anniversary of the first ever explosion of a nuclear weapon when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was followed on the 9th August by the detonation of a further nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) have organised an event to mark the occasion and remind people of the potential horror of the use of nuclear weapons.

200 peace lanterns will be released onto the river Dee to commemorate the 200,000 men, women and children who died following the nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many more died later from injuries or prematurely from the horrendous health effects that followed.

We are delighted to have Yu Aoki who lives and works in Aberdeen but who was born in Hiroshima as one of our speakers. Yu Aoki has said

“I grew up listening to the stories of my grandparents and other atomic bomb survivors about their experiences of the 6th August 1945. Many survivors have passed away by now and. I feel that people from the younger generation like myself have to pass on the stories to the next generation so that we learn from the history and never repeat it again as there still are a large number of survivors”

We will have songs from local singers Dave Davies and Kirsty Potts as well as poems by the recently deceased local poet and peace activist, Hilda Meers, which will be read by Tommy Campbell from Unite the Union.

We also have a wide variety of Speakers from Civic, Faith and Community Action Groups.

The memorial event which is open to all the public to attend will take place on Thursday 6th August at 8.30pm by the side of the River Dee at the Fisherman’s hut off Riverside Drive (between the Bridge of Dee and Duthie Park)

Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District CND, stated

“For most of us nuclear weapons have been a part of the world we live in for all of our lives. We can as such often put into the back of our minds just how horrific these weapons would be if used.

“The Independence Referendum has highlighted the fact that the UK’s nuclear weapons are based in Scotland and the United Kingdom Government are intent on building a new generation of atomic weapons at a cost of £20 billion. As a result of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and the New Start treaty of December 2010 nearly 50% of these monstrous weapons have been destroyed.

“There are still, however, 19,500 nuclear weapons in the world – enough to destroy our world several times over. Building new atomic weapon systems such as the UK’s Trident replacement diminishes the likelihood of getting rid of the remaining weapons.”

For further information please contact:

Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District CND
Tel: 01224- 586435;
mobile: 0758-245-6233
e-mail: jhamiltonrussell@hotmail.co.uk

Date: Thursday 6th August 2015, at 8.30pm
Venue: the Fisherman’s Hut on the River Dee
(by Riverside Drive )

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Beach Restaurant Development Gets Green Light

Aberdeen City, News No Responses »

Jul 242015

Hornblower's Pic from fb page httpswww.facebook.comhornblowerstimeline (1)

Pic courtesy of Hornblower’s on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/hornblowers/timeline

With thanks to Phil Moar, Citrus Mix.

Plans for a new Aberdeen Beach restaurant development have been given the green light.
The blueprint for the esplanade site of the former Jimmy Chungs and TC Fish restaurant was submitted late last year by award-winning restaurant and takeaway Hornblower’s, in partnership with site owner Rossnow Leisure and TCD Architects.

The site has lain disused since the start of 2014 but has now been granted the required planning permission to be transformed into a bistro-style restaurant and takeaway along with a 1950s-style ice cream parlour.

The 250 seater, 16,000 sq ft restaurant will occupy two floors and will also include various terracing and heated outdoor seating areas, providing unrivalled sea views. It will be accompanied by a neighbouring 650 sq ft takeaway and 2,500 sq ft ice cream parlour.

The restaurant, takeaway and ice cream parlour will be operated by Hornblower’s, with two other restaurants, including The Pier Bistro, also forming part of the complex.

The planning approval follows the recent decision made by Hornblower’s owners Ruth and Alex Grahame to make their current Gourdon premises available for lease. Hornblower’s has operated from the coastal village since 2011, with its locally sourced dishes and its stunning, picturesque setting proving popular with locals and visitors from throughout the world.

Owner Ruth Grahame is delighted that plans for the Aberdeen Beach development have been given the go-ahead.

She said:

“Today’s announcement is the result of months and months of hard work so we’re thrilled that our plans for Aberdeen Beach have been given the green light.

“When the site came on the market, it immediately grasped our imagination. In terms of location, size and the stunning view out across the sea, it really did tick so many boxes for us and we’re delighted to now be in the position to forge ahead with transforming our dream into a reality.

“Many of the things we’re known for through our time in Gourdon will be replicated in our new home in Aberdeen. We’ll continue to use the best produce from sea and field and we’re committed to 100% Scottish sourcing; an important part of our business that we will never lose sight of.

“The addition of the ice cream parlour adds another dimension to Hornblower’s and I’m sure will be just as popular as our signature dishes. We think a combination of the beach, fish and chips and ice cream sounds great and we can’t wait to let customers, both old and new, experience what we have to offer.”

Construction work on the site is set to begin later this year.

More info:

Hornblower’s in Gourdon, which specialises in locally-sourced seasonal food with an emphasis on seafood, was opened in 2011 by Alex and Ruth Grahame.

Renowned for its fresh produce, the restaurant and takeaway has built up a reputation for showcasing the best that Scotland has to offer from both sea and field. Committed to 100% Scottish sourcing for all of its fish and meat, the restaurant receives daily fresh deliveries of fish from either Gourdon or Peterhead harbour.

It has also received critical acclaim, most recently scooping the 2015 Best Chippy Chips in Scotland award from the National Potato Council. It was also awarded with a VisitScotland Thistle Award for best informal dining experience in the north-east and Tayside in 2014.

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Aquatic Continue To Support Diving At ASV

Aberdeen City, Sport No Responses »

Jul 242015

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

Having celebrated the Aquatics Centre’s 1st birthday in May, Aberdeen Sports Village (ASV) is delighted that Aquatic Engineering and Construction Ltd, an Acteon company, is continuing to support diving at ASV.

Diving at ASV has developed since the facility opened in May 2014 and now offers an integrated pathway, supported by Scottish Swimming, from Learn to Dive through to club squads.

The first individuals are now competing around the country representing the ASV Diving Club.

Deborah McCombie, Head of Marketing & Communications at Aquatic said:

“The Aquatics Centre at Aberdeen Sports Village is an extremely popular world-class swimming venue. Our brand values relate to our Strength in Depth and so the opportunity to continue to support this centre-of-excellence and invest in some of the finest local young people to become the very best in their sport, resonates very strongly with our people and our business.”

The sponsorship from Aquatic will help the Diving Club to support facility hire, equipment and squad coaching. The club currently train three times a week in the 25m pool at the Aquatics Centre; one of only ten facilities in the UK with full diving facilities and platforms up to ten metres. The divers also take part in dry land training focusing on their skills in the Aquatics Studio and the Sports Hall utilising the newly installed ‘dry’ diving board and trampolines.

There are currently ten divers in the club, eight of whom have progressed from ASV’s Learn to Dive programme and two choosing to move to ASV from other clubs. Two of the current squad members – Farquhar McDougall and Clara Kerr – have already been competing in regional competitions and regularly obtain podium finishes.

Deborah continued

“We operate within the subsea sector of the oil & gas industry and it is possible that in years to come, some of these young divers will be inspired to go into the commercial world and work with our people on projects around the globe. We are delighted to extend our commitment to the Aquatics Centre for a further year.”

Alison Wylie, Commercial Development Manager at ASV, said:

“We are delighted Aquatic is continuing to invest in diving at Aberdeen Sports Village. Their support is vital as we look to unearth and develop the next generation of Commonwealth and Olympic hopefuls. We look forward to further developing our partnership with Aquatic over the coming months and building on the early success of our Diving Club.”

Aberdeen Hotel Joins TripAdvisor Hall Of Fame

Aberdeen City, Featured, Information No Responses »

Jul 242015

Thistle Aberdeen Altens Hotel.
(Picture by Michal Wachucik/Newsline Media)

With thanks to Jennifer Kelly, Tricker PR.

Thistle Aberdeen Altens hotel has been inducted into the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame after securing the review site’s Certificate of Excellence for five years in a row.

And there have also been celebrations at the chain’s two other hotels in the Granite City – Thistle Aberdeen Airport and Caledonian by Thistle – after they were also awarded the Certificate of Excellence status after receiving consistently high reviews from guests.

The Certificate of Excellence is awarded by TripAdvisor – the world’s most renowned peer review website – and has been running for the past five years.

Recipients are identified by a TripAdvisor algorithm that factors in a variety of user generated content.

This content includes review ratings, overall rating and the quantity and frequency of reviews. Hotels must maintain a rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of views and have been listed on Trip Advisor for at least 12 months.

The Hall of Fame Award is a new initiative to mark the fifth anniversary of the Certificate of Excellence scheme, and is being presented to those hotels that have made the grade for five years running.

Thistle Aberdeen Altens manager Kris Manship says:

“This award shows that we are consistently providing an excellent experience for guests. It is testament to the hard work of the team in the hotel, who are very committed to ensuring that we not only provide great service but that the experience is the same for each and every guest.”

General manager at Thistle Aberdeen Airport Alison Christie says staff at the three hotels are delighted with the hat-trick. She adds,

“TripAdvisor is the world’s most influential review site. It puts the power into the hands of the consumer.

“Positive TripAdvisor ratings are hugely important and they recognise and promote the great service and experience which guests have at our three Aberdeen hotels. A Market Metris survey showed recently than 93% of global travellers say their decisions are influenced by online reviews. It’s ‘word of mouth’ via the keyboard or touch screen and reviews benchmark us against all our peers.

“All three of our hotels have received Certificates of Excellence for several years running and they are another element of our strong credentials to mark us out in a highly competitive market.”

President of TripAdvisor for Business, Marc Charron has previously said of the Certificate of Excellence scheme,

“By putting a spotlight on businesses that are focussed on delivering great service to customers, TripAdvisor not only helps drive an improvement to hospitality standards around the world but also gives businesses both large and small the ability to shine and stand out from the competition.”

Recent TripAdvisor comments about Thistle’s three Aberdeen hotels include:

“Staff very helpful and polite, choice at breakfast was 1st class. Pool was great.”
“This is an excellent hotel with first class service, friendly staff, great facilities.”
“The bar /restaurant staff were very polite and efficient. Nothing appeared to be too much trouble and they were certainly hard working.”
“I stay at this hotel once a month the experience begins when you walk through the door staff are friendly and helpful the decor is very good rooms are tasteful and quite large.”
“I stay in many hotels throughout the country and I can honestly say that this place is as good as it gets for what is a city centre location. The rooms are well appointed with everything you could want, parking is free (a rarity for a city) and breakfast is very good. The outstanding feature of the hotel for me is the staff.”

Thistle has three hotels in Aberdeen – The Caledonian, Aberdeen Airport and Aberdeen Altens. There are 446 bedrooms across the three venues, and each has conferencing and banqueting facilities. Aberdeen Altens also has an on-site leisure club and spa. Further information is available at www.thistle.com

Clark IT Calls On Businesses To Boost Their Broadband

Aberdeen City, Featured No Responses »

Jul 242015

Aberdeen, Tuesday, 24th March 2015 Clark Integrated Technologies, Auchterless, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, AB53 8EP (Picture by Michal Wachucik/Newsline Media Ltd)

Austen Clark, managing director of Clark IT. Picture by Michal Wachucik/Newsline Media Ltd

With thanks to Esther Green, Tricker PR.

Clark Integrated Technologies (Clark IT) is helping businesses in the North and North-east to tap into a government grant of up to £3,000 to enable them to benefit from faster broadband.

Clark IT is participating in the Connection Voucher Scheme (CVS) available to businesses in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and
Inverness.

CVS aims to assist businesses to meet the upfront capital costs of a high speed and high grade broadband connection to the premises.

The CVS covers grants of up to £3,000 for setting up superfast broadband services and is a great opportunity for small and medium enterprises to upgrade their current services and reap the benefits, says Austen Clark, managing director of Clark IT.

“Upgrading broadbrand brings real benefits to businesses and a better connection can help you to boost your bottom line in so many ways,” Mr Clark says.

“This scheme offers businesses, charities, social enterprises and sole traders the potential to benefit from speedier response times, increased staff productivity and perhaps provide real options to migrate to Cloud based solutions such as Office 365 and more.”

Already more than 25,000 vouchers have been issued across the UK, allowing businesses to grow and have the scope to:

Increase profits by offering better services to more satisfied customers
Improve customer experience with quicker communication and faster file-sharing thanks to higher upload and download speeds, especially for large files
Reduce software and hardware costs by helping you switch to online data storage solutions
Enhance communication and collaboration through online video conference and cloud-based information sharing
Future-proof business with the latest technology to meet customer needs

Broadband Connection Vouchers are available to Small or Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in qualifying areas where installation of a new broadband connection will cost over £100 and where the broadband service selected delivers a speed or performance improvement on the current connection.

Other eligibility rules apply and to find out more about options available to your business, contact Clark IT on 01888 511441 or email info@clark-it.com

Clark IT has over 20 years of experience in providing industry leading support and delivering business-class technology. The company’s integrated solutions provide industry leading services, productivity and cost effective IT platforms for business growth.

With a client base in both Aberdeen City and Shire, Clark IT has also expanded into the Inverness area.

For more information, see the firm’s website at www.clark-it.com

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Moreland & Arbuckle Set To Rock The Tunnels

Aberdeen City, Opinion No Responses »

Jul 162015

Funky Blues Promotions Aberdeen is proud to present Moreland & Arbuckle at The Tunnels, Aberdeen on 25th July 2015

Guitarist Aaron Moreland and harpist/vocalist Dustin Arbuckle have spent over a decade exploring the edges of American roots music, in the process merging blues, folk and rock and building a reputation as an influential roots duo.

Moreland had grown up absorbing mostly rock influences including Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath whilst Arbuckle had taken his inspiration from icons such as Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson.

Their journey began after meeting at an open-mic night in Kansas in 2001, and they made their debut as a duo on Telarc International with the release of Flood in 2010.

In July 2013 they released 7 Cities, a most ambitious work, telling the story of Spanish explorer Coronado and his fabled search for the seven cities of gold in the Kansas plains. The sounds of 7 Cities ranges from the vintage rock of ‘Kow Tow’ to the twang of ‘The Devil in Me’ and takes in a surprise version of Tears for Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, all rooted in the spirit of the Delta Blues.

“Filled to overflowing with guitar and percussion soaked rock, country twang and low slung blues, 7 Cities is proof that Moreland & Arbuckle have yet again hit the listener right between the eyes.” (World Music Central)

Tickets are available from the venue or from Aberdeen Box Office 01224 641122.

Links:

www.FunkyBlues.co.uk or www.facebook.com/FunkyBluesAberdeen
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWCrC7h5CjE
www.morelandarbuckle.com

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