Nov 282016
 

With thanks to Yvette Rayner, PR Account Manager, Frasermedia.

asv-santa-1Budding Santas are being urged to don their festive gear to bring some cheer to a children’s charity.

Christmas is all about giving and a fun-filled festive event at Aberdeen’s world-class sports facility is offering people of all ages the chance to join lots of cheery Santas to give something back.

Aberdeen Sports Village (ASV), in Linksfield Road, is hosting its first ever Santa Run and Obstacle Course, in aid of Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).

The seasonal sporting extravaganza will take place at the Chris Anderson Stadium at ASV on Saturday, 10th December 2016.

The entry fee of £12.50 for adults and £7 for children includes a Santa suit with a hat, and sporty Santas can run, jog or walk the one-mile race and/or the one-mile obstacle course. No previous experience or fitness level is required and the event is open to fun-filled Aberdonians of all ages, from children to grandparents.

CEO of ASV, Duncan Sinclair, said:

“Christmas is coming and it is time to don our Santa hats and get festive! The Santa run is the ideal way to kick off your Christmas season and gift donations to a very worthy children’s charity. The one-mile race and short obstacle course will not be too tough but are the perfect opportunity to get some exercise while celebrating the most wonderful time of the year.

“ASV is delighted to be supporting CHAS as they do a fantastic job caring for babies and children with life-shortening conditions. It is important to think of others at Christmas so we urge as many people to come along to our Santa Run as possible.”

Emma Moore, community fundraiser at CHAS, said:

“We’re really excited that Aberdeen Sports Village has chosen to support CHAS with proceeds from their first ever Santa run event. It is shaping up to be a really fun day out for runners and non-runners alike, and we’re definitely looking forward to seeing everyone in their Santa suits!

“At CHAS, we put a huge emphasis on producing memories, so that families make the most of the precious moments they have together. This event is no exception, we hope people in and around Aberdeen will get behind it and sign up to take part!

“CHAS is the only national hospice charity in Scotland, which provides care to babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions. Our CHAS at Home service operates across Aberdeenshire and we have two hospices, Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch.”

Entries for the Aberdeen Santa run and obstacle race can be made at www.entrycentral.com.

 

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Nov 252016
 

As the Aberdeen Press & Journal gets into the festive spirit by announcing on its front cover today that ‘there ain’t no sanity clause’ and it’s dangerous to encourage children to believe in him, Old Susannah aka Suzanne Kelly marvels at Damian Bate’s organ yet again, and how it has seized the spirit of good will with its attack on Father Christmas.

DictionaryAt this time of year, it’s important to realise how lucky we are, and to think of those who are less fortunate, who suffer, who are abused.

Imagine spending your days in a no-hope situation. A tyrant forces you to do things against your better nature. You are humiliated on a daily basis, and people openly laugh at what you are doing.

Let’s take a moment then and pause. We have our problems. We might have money and health worries. It’s freezing cold.

But at least we don’t have to write for the Press & Journal and Evening Express under Damian Bates and Sarah Malone Bates.

Some poor soul had to write the infamous ‘TRAITORS!’ article back in the early days of Trump’s planning campaign depicting councillors who dared to vote against the unprecedented Trump golf plans.

Some idealistic young thing who years ago dreamed of a career in journalism now takes orders to write articles praising Damian’s wife’s forays into running a 5 star resort (or is that 6 diamonds – as Turnip awarded himself a few years back?). Imagine the overpriced coffee, the clunky ‘temporary’ clubhouse where the invented ‘Trump family crest’* asserts itself on every piece of furniture, paper serviette and presumably loo roll too.

And you have to submit copy saying it’s fabulous.

While you are instructed to write yet another review of MacLeod House and its beautiful concrete fountain, all around you local writers are firing off Freedom of Information requests, digging into Companies House files, and uncovering stories which actually constitute investigative journalism while you try to find 250 words about why the chicken supreme is worth £40 per head, all the while ignoring the giant plaque staring at you through the clubhouse windows proclaiming that you are on the world’s largest sand dune system.

You might like to say something about this being a blatantly untrue fabrication – but you don’t really dare to do so.

At least you get paid for it. Rather like those girls around the harbour. At least they don’t have to put their name to their handiwork. And quite understandably, many of the AJL articles go without anyone claiming a byline.

santa-with-traumatised-children-creepy-santa-comAnd now this week one of you was handed an arcane, clearly deliberately provocative piece from two academics who believe perpetuating the Santa Claus fable is akin to child abuse. ‘Give me a front page story on Bad Santa’ Damian or one of his minions told you.

And you did it, didn’t you?

Did you care this angle has been done before? Was what you were going to bring to the argument so brilliant you didn’t care? Maybe you were happy to get away from Trump for a little, or you were happy to try and forget the real news stories in our area that a reporter would want to cover – Marischal Square and its genesis, who is linked to who in the curious companies Sir Ian Wood and others still keep afloat even though (theoretically) the Union Terrace Gardens parking lot scheme (for that was all it really was) is dead in the water.

Maybe you don’t want to think about the fact your newspaper (for lack of a better word) will soon need to metaphorically tug its forelock at the city council: what other newspaper would even remotely consider taking a free rent from a city council? Can you even keep track of the number of city council stories and dealings that should have been investigated by the local printed press?

No, you are now going to Google elves, Santa, and present your findings on the new throwaway theory Santa is Bad Santa. Someone else is going to look into Muse, Trump, Inspired, fraud inside the council, etc. etc. But not you or your fellow Aberdeen Journals writers.

And Result! Good for you!

The Facebook P&J page has hundreds of hits on this story. Of course most of them are ridiculing the fact your boss put this on the paper’s front cover, and some are angry that young children will see this and dissolve into tears – thus spoiling photoshoots for your next ‘adorable tot’ competition. Hits matter on Facebook to your boss – even if the paper is not exactly flying off the shelf. You may well put this into your cuttings book – another front page story for you.

At least it beats the brains out of having to type for the umpteenth time ‘breathe fresh life into the beating heart of the city’ and such. How do you breathe into a heart anyway?  How fast can you as an Evening Express reporter type the phrase ‘vibrant and dynamic?’ Do they pay you for the word much as some other professionals are paid by the hour?  I’ve always wondered.

Maybe someday they’ll give a Pulitzer for incisive, pithy front page stories about the Tooth Fairy’s negative psychological impact on children. Perhaps that brilliant headline your paper used when a young man was missing ‘search called off due to unforeseen circumstances’ about a no-show psychic should have received more acclaim – how the family must have laughed! But not today.

Just maybe your Father Christmas article will lead to bigger and better – there is no shortage of crackpot experts with degrees who write ridiculous papers to get noticed – not that the attack on the Santa belief wasn’t a serious, scholarly work. You’ll find them – or Damian will find them and tell you to write up an op ed. Can a piece about the Loch Ness Monster be that far off now? I guess we all aspire to something.

perhaps time for you to pick up an actual newspaper and see what other writers are doing

So, many of us who contribute to Aberdeen Voice will keep doing the work you’re too busy to do. We’ll keep revealing that despite Trump’s declarations to the contrary, he was definitely seeking compulsory purchase orders against his neighbours. That was an AV scoop, and it doesn’t seem you picked up on that.

Guess it didn’t have the gravitas a piece on the Easter Bunny will do when you write it.

We revealed the literally cozy relationship between the P&J and Trump International Golf Links Scotland. We found out how much money from the public purse was spent promoting the risible UTG project. Did you like looking at those lurid images of the ridiculous ramps arching over an impossible landscape of trees and open air theatre month after month?

You’ve gone all out to help the council (usually).  Remember the Evening Express story designed to lend creedence to the city’s plans for killing the Tullos Hill Deer?  The deer were going to be killed to plant trees on Tullos despite public outcry to just leave the hill, wildflower meadow and deer alone.  The trees aren’t growing, but the deer are dead.  Your paper helpfully announced ‘Two Deer Found Dead Ahead of Cull’ – implying the poor creatures needed to be culled for their own good.  Then I found out it was fully two years before the cull was proposed that the deer were found dead of unknown cause.  Your paper never did cover my story that deer had clearly been slaughtered in the Gramps – severed limbs were found.  The preposterous claim Ranger Talboys made was that the deer must have been killed somewhere else, then the poachers marched up two different hills to deposit the limbs.  I guess there wasn’t room for any of this as well as another review of MacLeod House.  The ‘cost-neutral’ tree scheme Peter Leonard of ACC forced on the taxpayer has now cost a five-figure sum – obviously that’s not newsworthy to Damian.

As I write, it’s nearly 6pm – knocking off time for you, or perhaps time for you to pick up an actual newspaper and see what other writers are doing. Does it bother you to read Monbiot, Rob Edwards, people who care about corruption, the environment, the threat Trump poses to world stability – or are you genuinely content writing about the latest P&J sponsored award show held at the AECC and who won a golden cabbage or whatever it is given out that helps generate advertising revenue and PR for your stable of publications?

From the rest of us, we feel sorry for you. It’s not news you’re writing. It’s not investigative journalism your paper offers as a norm. You are sucking up to your advertisers (remember when a certain diminutive housebuilder reportedly threatened to pull his advertising if you ever wrote a critical piece on him again? I do). The press should serve as a check and balance on the council; in the P&J’s case, the council’s cheques for ads total £200,000 a year, and press you into service.

Adios to ideals; to dreams of reporting and investigating, or choosing what stories to follow. The rest of us feel your shame, and we pity you. This has taken enough of your time though, and you will likely have a beautiful tot or beautiful bride layout to work on.

Some of us managed to believe (or half believe) the Santa Claus/Father Christmas mythology without it turning us into megalomaniacal would-be fascist dictators, preening newspaper editors whose Facebook page consists of a series of selfies and little else, or a woman in a job over her head who will do anything for money, however much that means swallowing racism, sexism and nationalism – just hypothetical examples of personality disorders, mind you.

I am very thankful. Thankful I am never going to work for you or those you serve.

STOP PRESS:  Be sure to take your children to Santa’s Grotto at the Trump International Golf Links Scotland; if you’re going to scar the offspring for life, do it somewhere where they know about great big men with odd hair promising lots of gifts to people who do what they are told to do (even if those gifts never materialise). A tenner a tyke.

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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.]

Dec 112015
 
Breakfast with Santa

Breakfast with Santa

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

A Rosehearty primary school pupil has used her creative skills to win breakfast with a very special guest for her and her friends.

Madison Louise Stephen, a primary four pupil at Rosehearty School, came out top in Aberdeen shopping centre Bon Accord & St Nicholas’ Breakfast with Santa drawing competition.

Entrants were asked to draw a festive picture to adorn the walls of Santa’s Grotto which is currently present within the Bon Accord mall in the run-up to Christmas.

Madison’s picture was selected as the winner from over 100 entries from pupils throughout Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, with her Christmas time scene being praised by judges.

Her prize, along with a group of her friends, was breakfast with the man himself last Sunday (December 06) at Di Maggio’s Caffe in the Bon Accord mall before Santa started a busy shift meeting other children within the grotto.

Santa’s Grotto will be present within Bon Accord & St Nicholas on weekends December 5-6 and 12-13 from 10am to 4pm as well as each day from December 19 to Christmas Eve. All donations raised from the grotto itself will go to north-east charity CLAN Cancer Support.

Roselynn Birnie, head teacher at Rosehearty School, said:

“The entire school was delighted with Madison’s achievement and I’m sure that she, along with her friends, enjoyed their morning in Santa’s company.

“It’s fantastic that Madison has had her creative skills recognised in this way and she should be very proud of being selected as the winner from over 100 entries. It certainly is a bit of festive good news for everyone associated with Rosehearty School.”

Craig Stevenson, centre manager at Bon Accord & St Nicholas, said:

“I’d like to congratulate Madison for her lovely drawing and I hope she and her friends enjoyed their breakfast with Santa.

“I’d also like to thank all those who entered the competition; the response from pupils from all over Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire has really blown us away and they’ve all helped add something special to the grotto within the Bon Accord mall.

“We wanted to help create a bit of festive fun for our loyal shoppers this Christmas and our grotto is an integral part of our centre offering in December. It’s already proved popular with customers so far so I’d encourage you to pay Santa and visit and make sure your name is on his list for the big day itself later this month.”

Located in the upper mall on the Bon Accord centre, admission to Santa’s Grotto is £4.50 and includes a free gift for all those that attended. All proceeds are being donated to CLAN Cancer Support, Bon Accord & St Nicholas’ chosen charity for the year.

For more information and opening days, please visit www.bonaccordandstnicholas.com

Bon Accord & St Nicholas are at the heart of Aberdeen city centre’s retail sector, offering 840,000 sq ft of prime space and home to around 100 stores. Scotland’s largest Next, Aberdeen’s only Topshop and Topman standalone store as well as the City’s largest New Look and River Island are among the key retailers.

The centres, which attract an average of 275,000 visitors a week, are owned by BMO Real Estate Partners and managed by specialist retail agency Savills. For further on the centres visit www.bonaccordandstnicholas.com

Nov 262015
 

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

SANTA_BONACCORDHe has made the long journey from the North Pole and is now ready to spread festive magic in Aberdeen.

Santa Claus and his helpers have set up their new home from home in the Bon Accord centre, and their winter wonderland grotto will be open to the public from tomorrow (Saturday November 21).

For the first time in the mall’s history, all proceeds from the winter grotto will be donated to charity partner CLAN Cancer Support, which has helped organise the festive event.

The shopping mall’s support of CLAN is the latest in a host of events and activities that it has completed on behalf of the charity after it selected it as its chosen cause for the year.

Santa will be in his grotto ready to meet children and their families between 10am and 4pm on Saturday (November 20) and Sunday (November 21), as well as November 27-29,December 5-6, 12-13 and 19-24.

Santa’s Grotto – located on the upper mall of the Bon Accord Centre – holds pride of place in a snow filled seasonal scene. Children are invited to visit the centre to meet Santa and receive a gift from the man in red.

Craig Stevenson, manager of Bon Accord & St Nicholas, said:

“The centre has a fantastic relationship with CLAN and we are delighted that proceeds from our Santa’s Grotto will go towards the invaluable work they carry out throughout the north-east.

“Santa and his elves have been very busy getting ready and are looking forward to meeting families in the run-up to Christmas. At Bon Accord & St Nicholas we work hard to make the festive period an enjoyable one for shoppers in our malls and what better way is there to get into the Yuletide spirit than by visiting Santa.

“Children are already getting involved with helping decorate the grotto’s walls through our festive picture drawing competition, which we have had a great response to. We are all looking forward to what is naturally our busiest time of the year – and we are sure Santa will be the star of the show.”

Colette Backwell, chief executive of CLAN, said:

“Bon Accord & St Nicholas have given us tremendous support this year and we are absolutely delighted to be working in partnership with them on Santa’s Grotto.

“The festive season is an exciting and busy time for all of us at CLAN, and we are looking forward to playing our part in helping out at the Santa’s Grotto. I am sure those visiting the grotto in the build-up to Christmas will thoroughly enjoy it.

“We are so grateful to the people of the north-east, who are supportive of our efforts throughout the year, and we hope they take the time to pop along, meet Santa and help us continue our crucial work by making a donation.”

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Dec 212011
 

By Bob Smith.


Christmas Eve in the 1940s
A myn o’t as tho’ twis last nicht
The livin room fire wis aye bleezin
An aathing wis bonnie an bricht

Paper chines hung fae the ceilin
An slap bang in the cinter a bell
Ti a wee loon in short troosers
Aathing  jist lookit richt swell

A Christmas tree wi didna hae
Oor roomies they war ower sma
Bit wi plunty o ither decorations
Aa nivver gied iss a thocht ava

A’d scriven ma letter ti Suntie
An sint it awa up the lum
An if he micht lave fit a wintit
Losh he wid fair be ma chum

On Christmas Eve on the wireless
Carol singin ma mither thocht braw
Good King Wenceslas he look’t oot
Aa he saw roon aboot wis sna

Ma lang sock a wid lave hingin up
It wis peened ti the muntelpiece
An ower aside the fireplace grate
Fer Suntie a’d lave a fine piece

Awa ti yer bed ma mither wid say
Suntie disna cum tull yer sleepin
Nae argument noo fae you a’ll hear
Or maybe yer present he’ll be keepin

 

Fae ma bedroom winda a peered oot
Ti see Suntie’s reindeer in the sky
Bit nae maitter foo lang a lookit
They nivver wid cum wanner’n by

On Christmas morn a hash’t ben
Ti see if ma letter hid bin heeded
A aye wis maist affa feart ye see
Maybe Suntie he cwidna read it

Afore ma verra een there wis
A widden boat ye pulled on wheels
Made a fun oot in later eers
By een o oor local chiels

Stappit in the lang sock ye’d fin
An orange an a fyow chocs
A  drawin book fer ti colour in
Wi crayons in a braw box

Christmas it wis a time fer bairns
Growen ups they preferred Hogmanay
Bit wi the kids o yesteryear they bade
Aroon the fire on a caul Christmas Day

Noo fowk  awa back in the forties
Didna hae  the siller ti splash oot
Bit bairns they war mair contintit
Than eens nooadays a’ve nae doot

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© Bob Smith “The Poetry Mannie” 2011

Dec 152011
 

With Christmas fast approaching and people hitting the city in droves this weekend – why not pop into our lovely city gardens in between the present hunting for a truly festive event.  Iain Richardson writes re. this Saturday’s Winter Festival at Union Terrace Gardens to celebrate prize art work by city children.

The winners of an art competition for children will receive their prizes at a Winter Festival in the centre of Aberdeen this Saturday, 17th December.

Christmas-themed artwork by Aberdeen school children will be on display at the event in Union Terrace Gardens on Saturday 17th December 2011, between 1pm and 3.30pm.

The Winter Festival will feature the Bon Accord Silver Band, carol singing, Yousedancin ceilidh band, Santa, Cairngorm reindeer, and free festive food and drink.

Dorothy Bothwell, retired Head Teacher and member of the Common Good Aberdeen group, who organised the event, said:

“We’re just thrilled at the response to the competition. The children’s art is stunning and we’ll be displaying as many of the 300 or so entries as we possibly can on Saturday, as well as handing out prizes to the winning children”.

The prizes for the winning Art Competition entries in each of three age groups will be presented to children at approximately 1.30pm on Saturday 17th December, at the Arches in Union Terrace Gardens.

Nearly 300 entries were received from primary schools and individual children in and around Aberdeen.

For further information, contact:

Dorothy Bothwell:      01224 583451
mrsb_cafe52@hotmail.com

Iain Richardson:        07833 453961
iainrichardson@ieee.org