Sir Ian Wood Archives - Page 14 of 14

Doctor Doctor…..Please!! – RGU To Honour Trump

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Articles, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Sep 242010

By Cllr. Martin Ford ( Introduction by Dave Guthrie ).

It was at a meeting with then First Minister Jack McConnell in Trump Towers back in January 2006 that Donald Trump announced that he was looking for a business opportunity in Scotland.

One year later his planning application for a golf resort at Menie Estate was rejected by Aberdeenshire Infrastructure Committee with the deciding vote being cast by Martin Ford who was subsequently removed from his post as chairman. After referral to the Scottish Government the plans were accepted and the diggers moved in earlier this year. Continue reading »

Nature’s Fecht For Union Terrace Gairdens

Creative Writing, Satire and Humour No Responses »

Sep 102010

Natures Fecht For Union Terrace Gairdens – A Poem By Bob Smith

The craws war chattin ti the doos
Hiv ye heard the affa news
They’re destroyin oor gairdens at Union Terrace
Thae humans are a bliddy menace

The doos said are ye sure yer richt
We ken you craws are nae that bricht
Oh aye we heard it fae a wise aul owl
Fa wis doon the Toon’s Hoose for a prowl

Noo Jenny Wren wis hoppin aroond
Fin she heard the doos kickin up a soond
She flew up high ti see fit’s fit
Fit she heard she didna like ae bit

Oh michty me an gweedness gracious
Fillin in oor gairdens fit are richt precious
The trees and shrubbies far a hop aboot
Wull aa be for the chap nae doot

The tale wis telt ti the snails
They lit oot some affa wails
Iss surely it jist canna be
Destroy the gairdens an we’ll aa dee

Syne the news it reached the bugs
They hid heard it fae the slugs
The Toon’s Hoose wull be oor destination
There ti hae a wee bit infestation

We’ll crawl aa ower the Provost’s chair
An get in yon John Stewart’s hair
The mannie’ll hae ti hae a scratch
Serves him richt the silly vratch

The moles they noo heard the chatter
An said we’ll hae a wee bit natter
We can undermine St Nicholas Hoose
So’s the foondations are a bittie loose

Noo the robins war maist pit oot
As roon an roon they did scoot
Iss is news jist affa silly
As they passed it on ti a blue tit billie

The Blue Tits they warna overjoyed
In fact they were fair annoyed
We’ll hae ti flit ti Westburn Park
An that’ll nae be much o a lark

Syne a butterfly it flitted bye
On hearin aa the spik did cry
Fit aboot the bonnie flooers
Far a spent sic happy oors

The squirrels they cam oot o hidin
Fae holes in trees far they wis bidin
They canna chap doon oor hame
Fa thocht up iss silly game

The bees noo they war bummin
Wi frustration they wis hummin
We’ll hiv ti sting aa the bums
O Sir Ian Widd an his chums

The flooers, shrubs an the trees
War duncin wi anger in the breeze
Iss his been oor hame for yonks
Aa ti be trashed by stupid gonks

The aul aul trees hid some inspiration
We’re covered by an order o preservation
Jist aabody bide in oor leafy green tops
Agin the diggers we’ll pull oot aa the stops

Leave us aa aleen is nature’s plea
Nae hairm ti humanity did we ivver dee
Ye humans are jist bliddy feel
As oor gairdens ye try ti steal

Bob Smith “The Poetry Mannie” 2010

Unplugged In The Park

Articles, Community, Events, Featured, Gigs and Concerts No Responses »

Sep 032010

By Dave Guthrie.

On a quiet Saturday evening a couple of weekends ago a celebration took place in Union Terrace Gardens.
As evening fell, small groups of people began arriving with picnic blankets, candles, lanterns and glow lamps to take part in ‘Unplugged in the Park’, a low-key event loosely organised by Friends of UTG.

Amidst a sea of shimmering lights the audience were treated to storytelling, poetry, some amateur dramatics ( rather wittily entitled ‘Trees Not Wood!’ ), some fine music and African drumming.

The first lantern-balloon, released perhaps too soon, rose slowly in the still night air and there was some apprehension as it hovered close to the trees and HMT but there was a collective sigh of relief – and a few cheers – as it caught the breeze and seemed to head decisively in the direction of St Nicholas House.

Later launchings were trouble free.

A couple of bobbies strolled through the Gardens, no doubt grateful for a few minute’s respite from the street-level intensity of a city-centre Saturday night, as everyone enjoyed the entertainment and the spectacle.

Perhaps the only sour note rose from the two under-maintained port-a-loos standing in for the Grade ‘B’ listed Victorian facilities which have been allowed to fall into a sad state of disrepair.

The weather was kind, with the showers not arriving until most of the crowd had quietly dispersed and the clean-up operation was well under way.

Once again, the Gardens had provided an oasis of calm in the city centre which people could enjoy fully with the minimum of fuss.

City Council Meeting

Aberdeen City, Articles, Environment, News No Responses »

Jul 022010

By Sara-Jane Duffus

Aberdeen City Council decided yesterday to progress to the next stage of what was the City Square Project and what is now the, somewhat hastily, rebranded City Gardens Project despite strong objections from many councillors, in particular from the Labour camp.

Deputations were put forward against the Civic Square/ City Gardens Project by Mike Shepherd on behalf of Friends of Union Terrace Gardens and also by Steven Bothwell, owner of Café 52.

Despite neither man winning over the councillors, it raised the issue of whether TIF (Tax Increment Financing) is a valid, effective and secure mechanism with which to “fund the vision.”

Earlier in the day the council rejected the proposal for new purpose built offices at the Oakbank School Site, Mid Stocket Road despite this being one of the projects required to reach fruition to fund the Civic Square via TIF means.

The following questions from councillors during the debate showed an increase in the lack of confidence in this project from all sides.

Councillor Young asked if there was a legal document in place to secure Sir Ian Woods gift of £50 million. Sue Bruce said discussions were in place to move forward with this.

Councillor Bolton asked that should the design project result in a substantial decrease in the entire cost, will Sir Ian reduce his offer to reflect this. To which there was no clear answer.

Councillor John West asked what opportunities the council would have “to put the brakes on if the designs were unacceptable.” He was assured the council would have the final decision.

Councillor John Stewart’s motion to progress with the project was passed by 25 votes to 15 against Councillor Crockett’s amendment to not take the project any further. Councillor Greig’s motion to progress with the project with amendments to keep the gardens substantially as they are but with improvements such as toilets, improved disabled access and events laid on to promote use of the gardens was also defeated by 22 votes to 7 with 11 abstentions.

Union Terrace Gardens – Big Chuck writes for you

Satire and Humour No Responses »

Jun 242010

Hello Subjects

Here is one putting pen to paper on your behalf once again. Well, what a to-do about the Union Terrace Gardens, eh? One simply couldn’t believe that even a jumped-up, nouveau-riche oik like the odious Wood would try to desecrate the centre of the Granite City with his ridiculous vanity project.

That was bad enough but when we heard that crowd of bludgers in the city council had actually passed it! Well, I’ve haven’t seen Mumsy so peed off since that dreadful Thatcher woman came on a visit and Ma found her in the guest bedroom trying on her crown. The flat-heeled sensible Clarks Ladies shoes were flying that day, I can tell you. As the visiting Australian Cultural Attache aptly remarked at the time , “Yer ma’s farting sparks today, son”.

Anyway, back to the day of the council vote. Obviously, the family’s first response was to get tooled up with polo mallets, climb into the Range Rover then zip into town and give the spineless curs a good seeing-to while Mumsy, (having what the family calls ‘One of Her Little Pol Pot Moments’) was all for having the little bastards shot for treason.

Unfortunately, when we got to the garage, accompanied by the corgis, who are always up for a ruck, we discovered that Dad had taken the Range Rover and left it at the airport on his way to the demos in Greece. So instead of being available for us it was sitting at Aberdeen Airport clocking up parking fees like nobody’s business. There’s your typical bloody anarchist for you – never around when you need them.

Round And About

Articles No Responses »

Jun 242010

Union Terrace Gardens: Aberdeen City Council decided in favour of the ACSEF/Ian Wood City Square Project on Wednesday 19th May 2010. We must respect the democratic process, although many citizens found the outcome incomprehensible. It appears that the decisive stage in the Debate was the split vote, 14-14, on Labour and Conservative amendments presenting a straight choice between the Peacock scheme and the City Square Project with eleven councillors abstaining. The split-vote impasse was resolved by the Lord Provost, who deployed his casting vote in support of the City Square Project, effectively killing off the Peacock option.

Conventional planning practice in the event of a split vote is that the Chairman votes in support of the ‘status quo’, i.e., for no change, against the new proposal or application. The ‘status quo’ in this case might reasonably be considered to be the Peacock scheme,

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