Mar 152012
 

Voice’s Old Susannah considers the upcoming council elections, the UTG referendum result, the happenings on Tullos Hill, International Womens Day, blogging beasties and generosity. By Suzanne Kelly 

Tally Ho!  The May elections are coming, and not a second too soon.  Some of our tireless (or is that tiresome?) councillors are packing up and preparing to move on.  Let’s hope they bring all of their talents to their new areas.

I hear that there is now a shortage of packing crates at the Fortress of Doom (aka The  Townhouse) as heroic councillors get ready to head into the sunset.  I hope they don’t let the doors hit them on their way out.

As to the UTG Referendum?  Well, I guess that’s it – it has been a totally above-board, fair-and-square contest.

The grapevine would have it that some of the rich and powerful secret members of the Vote for the City Gardens Project are less than pleased it’s cost so very much money to have such a small margin of victory, but they still got the result they wanted, if not the landslide they’d prayed for (or is that ‘paid for’).

In the next few days I’ll write about the dozen or so wee problems that some people have with the referendum and how it was run.

Did you know that over 300 votes arrived just a wee bit too late to be counted?  Did you know it would be totally illegal for any of the campaigning organisations to see the register as to how the votes went?  No, neither did I until recently.  I also have it on very good authority who some of the VFTCGP backers are.  Old Susannah is toying with the idea of naming them.

They would be free to deny the association – but why should they want to be secret in the first place, after all, they were the heroes behind the scenes helping us poor souls know how to vote.  Who could turn down their promise of 6,500 new permanent jobs or their £122,000,000 flowing into the city each year?  Think of all the parties and portraits that would buy!  Wow!

(You might be interested to know that PriceWaterhouse Coopers were asked by me if they had intended their projections about money and jobs to be used as the VFTCGP did in its propaganda.   PwC might have been expected to say they were delighted, and that they stand behind their projections 100%.  However, they said that as the projections were made for a ‘private client’ they can make no comment on them to me.  Of course the bills I’ve seen for PwC look like you and I paid for this great work out of our taxes, but there you go).

And other great news from Tullos  Hill.  HoMalone is having her way, backed up by impartial ‘expert’ C Piper (perhaps related to the CJ Piper firm which was already paid £42,000 for the bang-up job delivered on tree planting to date?).  Yes, the gorse is gone, and with it all those annoying butterflies, bees, moths, and insects.

The birds that would have eaten these critters and the small and larger mammals which lived in the gorse are homeless.  If only I had an environmental degree, then I could say we’ve interrupted the food chain and interfered with existing biodiversity on Tullos.  As it is, I’m not allowed to make any such observation, however obvious.

Any small mammals or deer rendered homeless should apply at Marischal College reception to declare their homeless status.  Of course these creatures are likely now to wind up as road kill.  Surely not even HoMalone or Ranger Bigboy will dare to claim any roadkill we see now will be due to overpopulation?  Well, we’ll see.

  Women around the world lack rights and comforts we all take for granted

Some of those animal-loving, meadow-loving radicals will be handing flyers out and collecting signatures on petitions this Saturday at 12:30 in front of Marks & Spencer Union Street.  The petitions apparently are to protest the use of school children to plant the 89,000 trees on Tullos.

Ms Malone indicates this will be an educational experience for the little mites, and I’m sure it will.

Having seen the state of the hill, they will learn about cuts, tetanus boosters, chemical pollution, industrial waste, and dead deer.  Thank you, Aileen.  I do hope she will make it to the hill to plant a few trees herself.  That would seem only fair to me.

For the paper petition, further info, and a PDF of the new flyer, visit:  http://oldsusannahsjournal.yolasite.com/

Finally, Old Susannah attended two events in the last week which celebrated International Women’s Day, a great Oxfam fundraiser held by Bead Crazy on St Andrew Street.  A dozen or so guests were treated to cocktails (thanks for the Black Russians), brownies and beads.  Everyone made pieces from recycled materials which was right up my street.

I’ve turned an old domino into a necklace that says ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, and a bottle cap into a brooch with an Oxfam fact.  Women around the world lack rights and comforts we all take for granted.  Thanks to Alex and everyone at Bead Crazy for the event.

Then at the Belmont last Saturday I ran into a collection of women celebrating Women’s day a bit differently.  They were all dressed as fairy godmothers, and were collecting wishes from the public as to what people would like to wish for our young girls’ futures.  My wishes didn’t include any granite webs or deer culls.  Thank you Merlyn and all the other women.

As well as a definition or two, this week I am pleased to announce that Aberdeen Voice has negotiated two new Celebrity Bloggers!  They will be featured in this column for the next several weeks.

And now – the first ever Millie & Cattie joint Blog!

“Hi I’m Millie, the Caterpillar!”

“And I’m Cattie the Millipede!  We’ve had a horrible, tragic few days:  our meadow home was destroyed and many of our friends with it.”

“Yes, sadly that’s true, Cattie.  Bulldozers showed up without warning to our Tullos Hill home, and ruined our wildflower and gorse home.  We had our rescue quite by chance.”

“That’s right Millie.  We were chewing on a Foxglove plant and suddenly it was ripped up and hurled into the air.  Sometime later the plant was found by a kindly passerby, and we were all taken to a safe house where we all now live.”

“We were both reluctant to launch this blog, but Old Susannah showed us the coverage Aberdeen was giving to a talking cactus, Morris the Monkey, and Jake the Ghost.  So we thought, ‘Why not try it?’   We know Spike the Cactus is very popular, and if people are willing to take voting advice from a monkey and a ghost (no offence), then people should know our story, too.”

“Yes Millie – we have a responsibility to let people know our beautiful home is gone, and an entire generation of moths, butterflies, bees have been wiped out.  What will become of some of our larger friends like the birds, small mammals and especially the kindly roe deer is our huge worry now.”

“Agreed Cattie.  We are grateful we were saved – we only hope our friends who haven’t been destroyed yet will be spared.  Got any lettuce?”

Cattie and Millie will give us an update next week and for the foreseeable future.

Charity:  (adjective) state of being generous, donating time or money to those  less fortunate.

While our very own local billionaire works selflessly to ensure his lasting granite memorial will bring his family continued and visible dominance over a certain city, a less savvy multi-millionaire has displayed a woeful lack of commonsense.

When it looked as if there would be some public outcry against his web, he calmly threatened to take his ball and go home.

J K Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter saga read the world over, has donated over £100 million to charity in the past year and a bit.  Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard hardly anything about her donations.  Where were the press cuttings, the headlines, the photos?  What did she get in return to show for it?

Ms Rowling has a lot to learn I fear.  Not only has she given enough away to nearly pay for the granite web we all long for, she’s dropped way down on the UK’s wealthiest list.

We will remember for quite some time how Sir Ian made his gracious £50 million donation to Aberdeen.  As long as we did what he wanted with it, and let unelected entities ‘manage’ our common good land, it was a great gift indeed.  When it looked as if there would be some public outcry against his web, he calmly threatened to take his ball and go home. Charity begins at home, and we’re going to take his charity, whatever form it takes, and like it.

Sure, Rowling may have made children all over the world discover the joy of reading,  and her books got people to read together in families and groups.   Her money may have helped countless people the world over across a wide variety of problems and concerns.  She may have made important points about the value of love, courage, kindness and friendship –  

But where’s the statue?  Alas, if there’s no granite monument and not a ton of press coverage bragging about the money, then the donations might as well never have happened.  Shame.  Perhaps a great PR firm could help…

One of the more radical points I picked up from these ‘children’s books of Ms Rowling’s ran along the lines of this (I deliberately paraphrase)  “One thing the tyrants of this world fear is that one day, one of the people they have oppressed will rise up against them.”  Can’t for the life of me think why that particular idea should spring to mind, but there it is.

New Acronyms!

Hooray!  We’ve more acronyms in this town than we know what to do with.  First it was the ‘Tree for Every Citizen’ scheme or “T’FEC!’ as it is affectionately known in Torry.  The tree scheme’s supporters (all 3 of them) are so pleased with their recent successes that they have more plans up their sleeves, or so I hear.

‘Forget Allowing Citizens Anything for Free’  is a brainchild for the coming budget cuts which are  in the pipeline, reflecting the service cuts and support staff cuts.  It will be called ‘FAC AFF!’ for short.

If this proves successful, phase 2 may be launched.  Its working title is Forget Every Citizen Utterly – or ‘FEC U’ for short.

If you want to see these schemes enacted, then don’t rock the boat at the elections, and we will continue on our happy course.  See you down at the Granite Web or Monorail station soon!

Next week? – At this rate what our Council will dream up is anyone’s guess…

Oct 222010
 

With thanks to Andy Kite.

A fantastic opportunity to catch up with some of the best musical talent the city has to offer will take place this Saturday [23rd]  in venues across the town as part of the Oxjam Takeover music festival.

Oxjam is a UK wide event with festivals taking place in around 30 cities.

With 25 local bands performing across five city centre stages this Saturday, there has been a huge amount of preparation to get things ready for the Aberdeen gigs.

Andy Kite, Marketing Coordinator said;

“We’ve been working at getting the festival in place since May and there has been a great deal of planning to put it in place.  From arranging line-ups, venues, timings, promotion and fundraisers things have been very hectic but we’ve all enjoyed every minute.

“The bands have all been great and seem really keen to get involved so we are really confident of putting on a great event so we urge everyone to come along and have a great time.  We really want to contribute to the charity and raise as much money as possible while using the festival as a showcase of the talent we have in Aberdeen.”

An eclectic line-up ensures there is something for everyone.

Both rooms in the Tunnels will be used with performances from Weather Barn (formerly Cast of the Capital), Le Reno Amps, The Deportees, Turning 13, Marionettes, Cuddly Shark, Eric Euan, Duke, Carson Wells and Katerwaul.

The Blue Lamp will serve up a party atmosphere featuring The Lorelei, The Gerry Jablonski Band, The Oxbow Lake, Chris Carroll and Flora Cook.

For those looking for something more reserved and intimate Enigma will host an acoustic night with the vocal talents of Jo McCafferty supported by The Kitchen Cynics, Craig Davidson, Sarah J Stanley and The Scandal Extracts.

Finally there will be a night of rock and roll on display at Cafe Drummonds with The Wildcards, Kashmir Red, Energy!, Emerald Sunday and Talking Sideways.

Tickets cost £5 and allow unlimited access to all stages and can be bought at One Up and www.wegottickets.com as well as on the door of each venue on the evening.  Doors open at 7pm with the first acts taking the stage around 7.30pm and there is an aftershow party at the Tunnels.  All money raised on the night is donated to Oxfam and contributes to Oxjam’s overall fundraising targets.

More about Oxjam nationwide –

Oxjam Takeover events take place on 23 & 24 October in the following locations:

Aberdeen, Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brecon, Brighton, Bristol, Canterbury, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guildford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London (Brixton, Leadenhall Market, Brick Lane, Kilburn, Kingston), Manchester, Neath, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton, Stirling, Stoke-on-Trent and Wiltshire.

  • More than 600 Oxfam shops across the country sell second-hand music – double the total number of independent record shops in the UK.
  • Oxfam shops sell around £6 million of music every year, which equates to around 1.8 million CDs and records every year, all donated by the British public. The largest single donation was of 4,000 vinyl albums to an Oxfam shop in Devon in 2008.
  • Oxfam has been one of the lead charities at Glastonbury since 1993, raising £2.7 million through stewarding the festival and signing up more than 400,000 people in support of its campaigns at the festival. Oxfam works at seventeen music festivals across the summer, stewarding, campaigning and selling festival fashion.
Oct 012010
 

By Andy Kite.

The Oxjam Music Festival is really hitting a note across Aberdeen.  With just over a month remaining till the big day, activities are starting to pick up with a view to raising funds and awareness for Oxfam.

Having already generated over £1,000 in the city through events such as a music quiz and a guitar hero tournament confidence is high for breaking targets in the run up to the festival, titled “The Takeover”.

Taking place on the 23rd of October, the festival will showcase some of the top artists from across the city with 25 bands performing across five stages.  Headlining The Tunnels will be Weather Barn and Le Reno Amps with both acts hugely popular with music fans in the north east.  The Wildcards and Kashmir Red will rock Cafe Drummonds while Jo McCafferty and The Kitchen Cynics will bring ambience to Enigma.  Finally, local favourites The Lorelei and Gerry Jablonski and his Electric Band will light up the Blue Lamp.

Oxjam Music Programmer Shawn Skinner declared “We are absolutely delighted with the quality of acts we have playing The Takeover and feel there is something for everyone.  We aimed to capture a cross section of the music scene in Aberdeen and believe we have that.  We’ve booked some local big hitters, renowned acoustic acts, blues and folk bands for a party atmosphere and encapsulated the spirit of rock and roll.  The best part is we can make a difference to people’s lives by listening to some of our favourite bands.  It’s incredible to think that around a billion people in the world don’t have access to clean water and while we can’t rectify this issue, we can certainly attempt to raise awareness and play our part in changing it.”

Tickets can be bought for £5 and provide unlimited access to each stage.  Hopes are high that each venue will be full to deliver a night to remember with every penny going to Oxfam with the money used to fight poverty and climate change.  A little money can go along way as, for instance, £429 is enough money to build a library and fill it with books and £720 can supply clean water for a village of 800 people.

At present the Aberdeen team at Oxjam have already raised enough funds for both of these initiatives.  Those attending The Takeover can also take part in “signing” a visual petition by having their pictures taken with the Oxfam “Fair Deal” handstamp with the photographs being put together in a collage and sent to world leaders.  Tickets for The Takeover can be bought at One Up on Belmont Street and at www.wegottickets.com.

Sep 172010
 

By Andy Kite.

Musicians in Aberdeen play their part in the UK’s biggest ever charity music festival

Local bands are set to take to the stage in support of Oxfam next month as part of Oxjam, the UK’s biggest music festival. On the 23rd of October, the Oxjam Takeover festival will see around 25 acts play across five stages in the city centre with all proceeds going to fight poverty around the world.

The show forms part of Oxjam’s Month of Music which runs through the whole of October. Oxjam is a festival with a difference.: Thousands of fundraising music events are put on by ordinary people – from large-scale festivals to local sponsored busks – making it the biggest line-up of any music festival in the UK.

Among the artists playing include Weather Barn, Le Reno Amps, Jo McCafferty, The Wildcards, Gerry Jablonski, The Deportees, The Kitchen Cynics and Turning Thirteen. For just £5, wristbands for the event can be purchased allowing access to any of the stages in The Tunnels, Cafe Drummonds, Enigma and The Blue Lamp.

Laura Darnell, regional manager for Oxjam Aberdeen, said:

“We’re really excited to be playing our part in making Aberdeen part of a month-long musical celebration right across the country. Even more importantly, this gig is all about showing that the best in local music can have a global impact too – for example, just £7 could feed a family, and £10 can buy five bags of seeds. So everyone who comes along can rest assured that as well as having a great time, they’ll be helping to change lives around the world too.”

During October, more than 950 venues, 2,000 volunteers, 6,000 bands and musicians and 135,000 audience members nationwide will enable Oxjam to raise £500,000 to help Oxfam fight poverty.

It’s exciting to think that anyone can get involved and every single gig will help to raise loads of money to change lives around the world

Since 2006, more than 36,000 musicians have played to an audience of over 750,000 people at almost 3,000 Oxjam events, raising in excess of £1.2 million to fight poverty around the world. Oxjam 2010 is expected to take the total past £1.5 million, enough to buy safe water for 1.6 million people, 750,000 bags of seeds or 60,000 goats.

From 27th to 30th September, a diverse range of the biggest names in music, including pop princess Diana Vickers, Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, and Britpop legends The Charlatans performed their most unusual shows to date – inside an Oxfam shop – as the official launch events for the Oxjam month of music.

Former X-Factor star Diana Vickers, who headlined the Oxfam shop show on 28th September, said:

“The best thing is that everyone who takes part – from singers like me to musicians, promoters and audience members – is the real star of Oxjam. It’s exciting to think that anyone can get involved and every single gig will help to raise loads of money to change lives around the world.”

Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, whose new band performed for Oxjam, said:

“Our gig is only the beginning of a movement of thousands of gigs, club nights and events right across the country, all raising money to fight poverty. ”

In the lead up to the festival, there will be a campaign night held at The Belmont Cinema on the 15th September between 6pm to 8pm. Campaigners from Oxfam along with representatives from the Aberdeen team will be present to answer questions and demonstrate what funds will be going towards.

To find out what Oxjam events are going on in Aberdeen and the full line-up for the Takeover festival visit www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam. Tickets can be bought at www.wegottickets.com and donations made at www.justgiving.com/oxjamaberdeen.

Oxjam Takeover events take place on 23rd & 24th October in the following locations:

Aberdeen, Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brecon, Brighton, Bristol, Canterbury, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guildford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London (Brixton, Leadenhall Market, Brick Lane, Kilburn, Kingston), Manchester, Neath, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton, Stirling, Stoke-on-Trent and Wiltshire.

  • More than 600 Oxfam shops across the country sell second-hand music – double the total number of independent record shops in the UK*.
  • Oxfam shops sell around £6 million of music every year, which equates to around 1.8 million CDs and records every year, all donated by the British public. The largest single donation was of 4,000 vinyl albums to an Oxfam shop in Devon in 2008.
  • Oxfam has been one of the lead charities at Glastonbury since 1993, raising £2.7 million through stewarding the festival and signing up more than 400,000 people in support of its campaigns at the festival. Oxfam works at seventeen music festivals across the summer, stewarding, campaigning and selling festival fashion.
Aug 202010
 

By Fred Wilkinson, with thanks to Andy Kite

Aberdeen music fans can look forward to a wealth of entertainment in October, whilst contributing towards efforts to tackle poverty.

Oxjam is a national event which hopes to raise money for Oxfam whose aim is to improve conditions for those living in poverty. It will take place at a number of venues in Aberdeen on the 23rd October. Continue reading »