May 012014
 

duthie-park-bandstand-featWith thanks to Dave Macdermid.

One of the north east’s most popular visitor attractions has attracted record numbers of visitors for the opening quarter of the current year, in its first full year following major restoration work.

Aberdeen’s Duthie Park welcomed more than 100,000 visitors during March, a rise of over 20,000 when compared to 2012 and over 40,000 more than the corresponding month last year.

Tony Dawson, Chairman of the Friends of Duthie Park, believes the increased numbers reflect the positive feedback received since the £5.2 million revamp.

“The park is a real jewel in the crown within, not just the north east, but the whole of the country, and after seeing more than a million visitors last year, the signs are that we’re in for even better numbers this time round. 

“Everyone who visits the park cannot fail to be impressed by the way it is looking right now and I must pay tribute to the staff there who take such a pride in ensuring a visit to Duthie Park is a fantastic experience. With such a variety of attractions, including the pedalos, Spike the talking cactus and the magnificent David Welch Winter Gardens, the park has something for all age groups.”   

The Duthie Park is one of the most popular parks in Scotland, with over half a million visitors every year. It was bequeathed to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie in remembrance of her brother and uncle and was opened in 1883 by Princess Beatrix.

Its historical significance as one of the finest examples of a late Victorian public park has led to its inclusion in Historic Scotland’s Inventory of Designed Landscapes and Gardens. The recent restoration and reconstruction of some of the lost features was inspired by old written and photographic sources and was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Aberdeen City Council.

The official reopening of Duthie Park took place on 30th June last year. This year’s Friends of Duthie Park Open Day will be on Sunday 17th August.

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.
Apr 252014
 

APP.Turf 038With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

The next Friends of Duthie Park gardening session will take place in Duthie Park on Sunday 27th April from 12 noon to 2pm. Friends and volunteers will be planting daffodil bulbs that were used for early spring displays in the David Welch Winter Gardens to give added colour next spring in the park.

Existing members and any potential new members who wish to take part are requested to meet at the entrance to the David Welch Winter Gardens at 12 noon.

Apr 042014
 

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

NEWSLINE MEDIA LIMITED

Left to right: BP employees Lindsay Smith, Bridget Phimister, Tim Smith, Linda Hodgson. Newsline Media limited.

Staff from energy giant BP have been hard at work in Aberdeen’s Duthie Park, planting hundreds of new Pony Park trees as part of their support for the Friends of Duthie Park.

BP is an enthusiastic supporter of Duthie Park and, in addition to purchasing trees on behalf of the ’Friends’, sponsored last year’s annual Christmas Concert, staged within the Winter Gardens.

Tim Smith, Vice President of Communications & External Affairs at BP, said:

“We are delighted to be able to support the great work both Aberdeen City Council and the Friends of Duthie Park are doing to restore the park to its former glory. In time, the trees we have sponsored and planted will make a real difference to visitors’ experience of this area of the park.”

Chairman of the Friends of Duthie Park Tony Dawson added:

“The support we receive from BP and others from within the private sector is really appreciated and makes a substantial difference within the park, which last year recorded record visitor numbers. Thanks to the efforts of BP and our other partners, I am confident visitor numbers will continue to increase going forward.”

The trees planted by BP staff included Oak, Scots Pine, Beech, Birch, Larch and Willow, all of which are native to Scotland.

Further information can be found at www.friendsofduthiepark.co.uk

Feb 282014
 

duthiebandstandThmWith thanks to Dave Macdermid.

This year’s Friends of Duthie Park Annual General Meeting will be held within the sunken area of the David Welch Winter Gardens on Tuesday evening (4th March) at 7 pm.

On the same day, the organisation will unveil its brand new website which has been donated by media and communications agency AVC Media.

The AGM is open to members and non-members and those present will be treated to a presentation updating activity within the Park over the past twelve months in addition to sponsorship opportunities available for local businesses.

FODP Chairman Tony Dawson is delighted to add AVC Media to the list of well known local organisations that are supporting one of the north east’s most loved attractions.

“All of the monies raised by the Friends are reinvested within the Park and the fantastic support we receive from business means we can undertake more projects to benefit visitors to what is such a lovely place.

“Spencer Buchan and the team at AVC Media have been a pleasure to work with and the website they have designed for us is fabulous. We want the Friends website to be the first port of call for anyone to find out what is happening within Duthie Park so it a hugely important communication tool for us.”

AVC Media managing director Spencer Buchan said the firm was only too delighted to help out. He said:

“Friends of Duthie Park is a great local organisation dedicated to helping look after one of Aberdeen’s best public parks and we were only too happy to design and build its website.

“Our talented team wanted to reflect the fantastic work carried out by FODP and let people know about it through a great website.”

The Duthie Park is one of the most popular parks in Scotland, with over half a million visitors every year. It was bequeathed to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie in remembrance of her brother and uncle and was opened in 1883 by Princess Beatrix. Its historical significance as one of the finest examples of a late Victorian public park has led to its inclusion in Historic Scotland’s Inventory of Designed Landscapes and Gardens.

The recent restoration and reconstruction of some of the lost features was inspired by old written and photographic sources and was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Aberdeen City Council. The official reopening of Duthie Park took place on 30th June last year.

Among the other companies to assist the Friends are BP, Ocean Installer, Craig Group, and Ben Reid.

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.
Nov 142013
 

By Bob Smith.

Union Bridge & Terrace 1900 flat

In een o Scotia’s bonniest cities
Live fowk fae fair git on yer titties
Wintin the toon tae chynge it’s wyes
Wi ugly biggins tae be the prize
.
Leuk at oor glorious granite face
Fou o character an fou o grace
Fin the sun shines on the steen
Ye ken yer bidin in Aiberdeen
.
Union Street biggins they jist micht
Be in great need o a gweed dicht
Tae reveal the silvery granite glint
Aat generations o fowk hiv kent
.
Bonnie parks an gairdens are aa aroon
There’s een in the cinter o the toon
Bit a local mannie fa his lots o cash
Wid Union Terrace Gairdens like tae trash
The toon it staans twixt Don an Dee
Twa rivers fa flow tae the sea
Throwe kwintraside they pass first
Syne feed the grey north sea’s thirst
.
A toon full o majestic spires
A city aat his some deniers
An wint the toon mair tae be
Like Houston or New York maybe
.
Bit Aiberdeen needs tae be Aiberdeen
Wi the couthiest fowk ye’ve ivver seen
Faa in their toonie tak great pride
An winna be takken fer a ride
.
So Widdie, Muse an Stewartie Milne
Tho’ fowk micht nae wish ye ill
Jist bugger aff an leave things be
In the bonnie toon twixt Don an Dee

© Bob Smith “The Poetry Mannie” 2013

Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated

Oct 172013
 

The controversy over Union Terrace Gardens has flared up again and, as per form, the usual agendas, fact-free PR and emotional twaddle is to the fore. So what’s going on? Mike Shepherd writes.

utgrailpicLet’s start with the John Halliday plans that have been so much in the local papers recently. John Halliday is a local architect and is the Halliday as in Halliday – Fraser – Munro, the company that drew up the original technical feasibility study for the City Garden Project.
They also created the plans for the Triple Kirks office block and the proposed Muse development on the St Nicholas House site.

John Halliday provided the plans pro bono as an illustration of what could be done with the gardens. They were not commissioned by anyone, e.g. the Council or Sir Ian Wood.

His focus has been on moving the railway station buildings to an area under and around Union Bridge. This would allow direct escalator / lift access to the station from Union Street via the north side of the bridge (and is actually not a bad idea).

He also envisages decking over the road and existing railway. The lower level of Union Terrace Gardens would be raised to accommodate access to the station from the HM Theatre side and to also include a station car park and taxi rank.

The Halliday plans drew fulsome praise from both Aberdeen Journals; the Evening Express in particular using the plans as a centrepiece for a “Let’s mend Aberdeen’s Broken Heart” campaign lasting several weeks.

The plans also drew support from an assortment of councillors and Alex Salmond. The Friends of Union Terrace Gardens (FoUTG) had been asked to comment by the Evening Express, although we told them we would reserve judgement until we found out more about the plans and had discussed them at our AGM, held last Saturday.

The Halliday plans achieved an amazing first in the UTG controversy: both the FoUTG and Sir Ian Wood were in agreement: Neither of us liked them.The Friends group rejected them as they meant building in the park (and once you concede the principle, when would this stop?)

Sir Ian Wood told the Evening Express on Wednesday that a car park would be the wrong use of space created by decking over the gardens. The billionaire seems to be envisaging a modified version of the original City Square Project; this description is from part of a press release that was reposted on Facebook:

“He does believe it is possible to cover the road and railway and then raise the gardens to the level of the existing arches on the west side and to the level of the raised decking over the road and railway and Belmont Street on the east.

“This would make them accessible and permeable from the adjacent streets and ensure the whole area becomes an integral part of the new city centre heart, with walk on access virtually all the way round. Some sloping topography would be respected with the level difference between Union Terrace and the arches with easy step access from Union Terrace and Rosemount Viaduct.

“The main visual features of the Victorian gardens could be maintained but as a more useable, accessible part of the city centre, helping regenerate Union Street and connecting north-south and east-west.

“For a city centre regeneration project to secure Wood Family Trust funds it must be truly transformational as described above, supported by the public and led by the City Council. If the council were to explore a development on this basis, they would be prepared to provide appropriate funding support. Hopefully a Government tax incremental financing (TIF) scheme might also be available.”

According to the Press and Journal, Sir Ian Wood was offering an ‘olive branch’ to the council in that a little dimple sitting on top of a subterranean structure could be styled as a ‘Victorian garden’.  This was in no doubt in response to Barney Crockett’s statement that whatever happens, a Victorian garden must remain in Union Terrace Gardens.

UTG Rowan

A rowan tree in Union Terrace Gardens. The rowan is believed by some to offer protection against malevolent beings.

If all the noise and breast-beating in the Aberdeen Journals were to be taken literally, the John Halliday and Sir Ian Wood plans are ostensibly the only show in town.

Less stridently mentioned are FoUTG’s modest plans to restore the park and the fact that Aberdeen Council are also working on a plan for the city centre that includes Union Terrace Gardens.

We don’t know much about these plans. They will be made public at the end of the month.

 

Suffice to say from what Barney Crockett mentioned at the Friends AGM, Robert Gordon’s University seem to have been involved in some shape of form.

Barney also repeated his statement that a Victorian garden will be present but was careful not to reveal too much detail and hinted that there could be some changes in the gardens.

It also sounds as if the idea of creating access to the railway station down from the north side of Union Bridge is in favour. It looks as if the council intends to try and build a consensus on their scheme with extensive consultation with interested parties. This is planned to include both FoUTG and Sir Ian Wood.

It remains to be seen what will happen in the current, somewhat heated, situation. The pressure is building up on the council administration.

Sir Ian Wood is making a last ditch attempt to save a version of his city square project. He is being aided in this by the one-sided support of the Aberdeen Journals, the P&J in particular being largely vociferous in his favour.

The Conservative councillors, who share the city administration with Labour and the independents, want to see what they refer to as the “transformation” of the gardens and not just round the edges either.

UTG train - Credit: Mike ShepherdOn the other hand, the Labour Group have the good will of many in the city over the act of ditching the business plan for the City Garden Project last year. They will not want to lose this.

Another factor is that council budgets are under severe pressure, not the least because the council have to find £75 million to fund the bypass. More cuts are likely in the medium to long term and it’s obvious to the dispassionate observer that an expensive city centre construction project should not be anywhere near the council’s top priority for expenditure.

A rational solution is to spend some money on improving the gardens but not a great deal. They don’t really need many millions spent on them to bring about a city centre heart that everybody can be proud of.

Unfortunately logic and reason on most things UTG flew out the window years ago. Here’s hoping common sense returns before long.

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.
Oct 112013
 

UTG FlowersThe Friends of Union Terrace Gardens (FOUTG) AGM will be held in the Belmont Cinema on Saturday 12 October. The session starts at 10.30am, although you are well advised to be there from 10am. Mike Shepherd writes.

Apart from the usual formalities, we will have two special sessions.
First of all, we will discuss in open forum the John Halliday proposal for the Denburn and will be canvassing opinion on this. At first glance, this looks like the Millennium Scheme, which would have decked over the road and railway, leaving the Gardens relatively intact.

It has been getting favourable responses from the usual commentators such as Aberdeen Journals.

FOUTG however, has unearthed more details which we will share. The feedback on this will be made public.

Secondly, we will be joined by Barney Crockett, leader of the Aberdeen City Council administration, offering the chance for members to ask Barney questions on the administration’s stance on the Gardens. Barney has gone on public record as saying that whatever happens to the city centre, the park will remain as Victorian gardens.

This AGM marks a transition in the focus of the Friends group. We do hope that our campaigning days are over and we now move forward as a stakeholder in the Gardens’ future, aiming to attract funds for the park and helping to encourage its full use.

Various initiatives in this regard will be announced by chairperson Robin McIntosh at the AGM.

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.
Aug 152013
 

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

The third Open Day organised by the Friends of Duthie Park, and the first since completion of the park’s major restoration work, takes place on Sunday 18 August, from noon until 4 pm.

It will be an afternoon of chock-full of family-friendly entertainment, explains chairman Tony Dawson.

“The Bon Accord Silver Band will be performing at the Bandstand between noon and 2 pm, whilst there will be various acts on the temporary stage in front of the Winter Garden including Uniform, Spindrift and The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.

“In the sunken area, we’ll have bokwa, zumba and power-hoops demonstrations and there will magicians and face-painters as well.

“At our own stall, we’ll be encouraging people to join the Friends and purchase our 2014 calendar, produced in association with the Craig Group. And, of course Spike and McPuddick will both be there too.

“Last year more than 3000 attended and with the interest in the park following the completion of the restoration, we will be disappointed if we don’t top that number this weekend.”

Other attractions will include children’s rides, paddle boats, vintage vehicles and demonstrations of woodturning and military fitness. The Dons Community Department will be there and Wrestlezone Scotland will be performing at 2 pm.

Tours to show off the park’s restoration work will run at 1 pm and 3 pm.

The full timetable for the day is at www.friendsofduthiepark.co.uk

 

 

Feb 212013
 

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

This year’s Friends of Duthie Park AGM will be held within the sunken area of the Winter Gardens on Tuesday 5th March at 7 pm.

Included in the event will be an update on the restoration work being undertaken in the park which is scheduled for completion shortly.

Members and non members are welcome to attend.

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.
Jan 242013
 

Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.

Another busy week in Aberdeen passed in a flurry of activity, culminating in the excellent BrewDog party celebrating the new factory opening. Live band Little Kicks were great, and so were the BrewDog crew.
A team assigned to the outdoor barbeque were positively heroic; hundreds were fed delicious food irrespective of the raging snow. A good time was had by all.

In the news this week are several stories involving common sense. Firstly, the elegant, ladylike, cerebral polymath Helen Flanagan, celebrated Coronation Street actress and model, told the press she is unhappy at being thought of as being a brainless, big-breasted airhead.

She has illustrated her intelligence and sensitivity with acts such as posing with a gun to her head days after a US gun spree left dozens dead. 

Also supporting the view of her as an intellectual, the article in which she claims to be a misunderstood genius is accompanied by a photo of her half-dressed. Brains, and talent, too.

Like most of us, I’ve been watching the ACSEF website with great anticipation for the the latest meeting minutes just as eagerly as I wait for the next episode of Coronation Street. I’m sure that when I last looked about a fortnight ago, there were only the June 2012 minutes out. But to my great joy and excitement, I see that the September AND October Minutes are out! Result!

These minutes, recently added to the hallowed ACSEF website, serve as a reminder to our elected officials to not step out of line. It is important they understand power structures and their place in the system.

ACSEF is, quite rightly, calling Barney Crocket to in effect ‘explain to the class’ how it will be possible to renew our city centre if we don’t turn our only green space into a concrete – sorry granite-clad concrete – web. He and Gordon McIntosh must do so at the December ACSEF board meeting.

Just to clarify, Barney is the leader of the duly-elected majority in local government, and ACSEF are quango hangers-on, some from self-promoting business backgrounds and others from yet more quangos, paid for by city and shire taxpayers.   I guess Barney better learn his place. This is what the minutes said (but no doubt you’ll rush off to read them, too):

“Councillor Crockett… confirmed Aberdeen City Council’s alignment with the ACSEF Action Plan and vision [what is that?], but highlighted the need for the ACSEF Board to take account of the City Garden Project decision.

“The Board questioned how the desired outcome of regenerating and improving the attractiveness of the city centre, which the City Garden Project had sought to deliver, might be achieved without this and other key linked projects.

“The critical importance of anchoring the oil and gas supply chain in the area for the long term and role city centre regeneration could play to support this was stressed.   It was suggested and agreed that a presentation and paper be provided to the December Board meeting outlining how the City Council planned to address the aim of city centre regeneration.”

I am very pleased our elected representative has to explain to ACSEF, including Stewart Milne, why Milne won’t be getting the web he relies on to make his beautiful glass box Triple Kirks offices a huge success (with parking). I might not be clever enough to be able to see how a granite web will anchor the oil business here (where it needs to be logistically anyway) – perhaps I should ask Helen Flanagan to explain?

Elsewhere the minutes show that ACSEF plans to dictate policy to the city and shire councils whether on housing or education. We can all sleep easily.

By the way, I’d actually love to stop writing about the web, or The Thing That Wouldn’t Die as it is more affectionately known.

Trouble is, the Press and Journal, and the other ugly sister, the Evening Express, won’t let me. They are going to try to print an article every other day forever on why the web will fix the problem of the changing face of retail. And all it will cost us is our Common Good land, fresh air, environment and our only city centre free recreation ground.

Yes, people around the world will stop going to visit Niagara Falls, the Taj Mahal and the Louvre and come instead to Aberdeen’s web, where they can shop in brand new, multinational shops. It is always a joy to see those acid-pastel coloured fantasy web sketches showing floating giant children over flowerbeds in a landscape free from any litter, graffiti or crime.

Makes my day. Keep running those beautiful photos and comments from leading businessmen, and I’ll keep praising them as they deserve. Today, it’s Mr Koot’s turn to be singled out for my admiration).

Multi-tasking: (modern English gerund) ability to competently do several things simultaneously.

You really have to hand it to Mr Koot, Taqa company’s supremo in Aberdeen. He’s found the time to tell the P&J this week how embarrassed he is by our city centre, and how the granite web is the answer to all our prayers. He told us this a few times now, but somehow it’s still newsworthy.

I conclude he must be a socio-economic whizz able to predict future marketing trends, concluding that internet retail is not the way to go, and shop-building is where it will be at. I am grateful, as we all are, for his relevant input into the web debate (even if some of us wish it would finally just go away).

He even generously wrote to his employees at the time of the referendum, telling them in a nice paternal way to vote for the web. Some people might equate getting an email telling them how to vote as taking serious liberties, coercion, intimidation, and using employment as a platform for propaganda.

I’m certain, however, he had nothing but the employee’s democratic rights and best interests at heart. This is what he wrote to staff in February before the vote:

“From a business point of view, this project is very important to economic and employment prospects in Aberdeen. It will help attract new energy industries and new companies to the City, and will provide a new city heart with significant garden, recreation and cultural amenities, with no additional cost to the Council Tax payer.”

Wow – you get something worth £140 million for free!  Why didn’t we do that again? Not only does he have the time to analyse what’s wrong with Aberdeen and tell people who depend on him for their livelihoods how to vote, he successfully runs Taqa, the Abu Dhabi oil firm.

Why do promotional web articles keep appearing with giant photos in my Press and Journal?

I guess anyone can drop the ball. As you might have noted in the news, Taqa had a wee problem this week when hydrocarbons escaping from one of its platforms in the North Sea caused an evacuation and a shut-down of the North Sea Brent pipelines. This was rather large in the news from 13-15 January.

Still, this talented master of multi-tasking found time to run the oil firm and campaign strenuously for the granite web since at least 2010. In fact, less than one week after the financially disastrous Taqa North Sea incident, Koot still found time to get into the P&J to say how embarrassed he was by our city centre, and the web was the answer. I guess you have to decide where your priorities lie – a huge North Sea oil problem and its aftermath, or the web.

Taqa is sending Koot to Iraq.

Just one more thing: you could ask yourself: “Why do promotional web articles keep appearing with giant photos in my P&J?” Is there perhaps a public relations agency, toiling away with no thought of monetary reward but interested in getting a web built?

Is there a PR agency writing these releases getting paid from somewhere, perhaps the unelected group Vote for the City Gardens Project (aka Stewart Milne and mates)?

I personally hope we find out that ACSEF is paying for all this, using our taxpayer money where it will do the most good. Perhaps we should ask our elected officials to look into this? We could ask ACSEF, of course. I’m sure they’ll be happy to clarify.

Gross misconduct: (Eng. compound noun, legal) severe negligence in the course of one’s given duties.

We have seen in our area nurses struck off for drug offences, abusing patients, stealing, even having inappropriate relationships with psychiatric patients. Two stories of nurses were in this week’s local papers.  One was a nurse who found a child wandering around, presumably after being left alone in a car.

Details are unclear; she should have called the police and stayed with the child it seems. She did, however, ensure the child’s safety.

Elsewhere, a convicted wife killer, suspected of also killing his first wife is fighting for his nursing license (should he ever get out of jail). Proven to be a mercenary, cold-blooded killer and pathological liar, he thinks he should be allowed to continue in the caring profession.

One of these has been struck off permanently; one will have some form of hearing from the Royal College of Nursing.

The Nursing body wants to remind everyone how seriously it takes striking a nurse off like it has done in this case, and told the press such action is never taken lightly. Can you guess which nurse’s career is over?  That’s right, the murderer may remain, for now, a nurse; the other person has been struck off. Great system we’re running here.

Time for me to get back to the ACSEF website! More next week, perhaps a look at the serious mistake Glasgow’s made by rejecting designs for George Square. Have they ever considered the benefits of a granite web, I wonder?

  • Comments enabled – see comments box below. Note, all comments will be moderated.