Dear Burgesses of Aberdeen

It would normally be my pleasure to invite you to all participate in a civic ceremony, however that will unfortunately not be possible this year, due to the restrictions imposed on us by the Covid19 pandemic. 

The Elected Members of Aberdeen City Council recently approved plans for a scaled down, socially distanced ceremony of remembrance to take place inside the Remembrance Hall of Aberdeen Art Gallery.  The event will be filmed and streamed on the internet and social media channels to the public on the morning of Sunday 8^th November.  Details of how to access the stream will be circulated/published in due course.

There will be a modest civic presence at the ceremony which will include the Lord Dean of Guild, so your institution will be represented.

I very much hope that next year we will be able to conduct the ceremony of remembrance in the time honoured fashion but, in the meantime, I thank you for your understanding.

Kindest regards,

Garry Watson

Please see email below from fellow Burgess Neil McLennan:

I have brought three veteran’s charities together: PoppyScotland, Legion Scotland and the Royal Caledonian Education Trust (I am a director of the last one) to mark the first national commemoration of St Valery. https://www.poppyscotland.org.uk/get-involved/saint-valery/
Can I ask that you share this with fellow Burgesses.  Many Aberdeen men and their families were impacted by St Valery. It is apt that we mark their service and sacrifice on the 80th anniversary.
Many thanks in advance
Neil

Burgesses of Guild of the City of Aberdeen

LORD DEAN OF GUILD COLIN G. TAYLOR

17^th May 2020

Dear Burgesses of Guild

I am pleased to report a successful AGM last week, with the assistance of the internet meeting place, Zoom.    In accordance with tradition a group of Burgesses convened at Noon on the second Tuesday of May.   The relevant papers had been circulated by email in advance of the meeting and on the day our agenda was completed in fifteen minutes or so.   The attendance was 23 and history was made, importantly because this was the first ever online gathering of Burgesses for an AGM and also because no butteries were served !    Lord Provost Barney Crockett, himself a Burgess of course, attended and kindly offered his appreciation of our support of the City; regrettably, Council Chief Executive Angela Scott could not be there but did send a message which we circulated a few days ago.  The meeting agreed the co-option of Stephen Wedderburn to be an Assessor, replacing Chris Croly whom I thank for his past service.

Our programme of lunches with guest Speakers is mothballed now, with no explanation necessary, however we are to trial a virtual lunch and this will be on Wednesday 3^rd. June commencing at 1214.    The Speaker will be Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski who will address the hot topic of Education with a talk entitled “’Post-Coronavirus Aberdeen: what should be the role of the universities and the college?”.  If you wish to attend the virtual lunch, please email Clerk Garry Stevens at – clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com

Garry will send a link to the meeting to all attendees prior to the lunch

I look forward to your support, please.

In my Lord Dean role I am a Trustee of the Lord Provost’s Charitable Fund which is administering a Hardship Fund to support local charities which support fellow Citizens for whom life is difficult in the current crisis.   The initiative for this came from our colleagues in The Seven Incorporated Trades (‘Burgesses of Trade’) whom I applaud for their foresight and generosity.   The Council through the Common Good Fund and the LPCT is fully supportive and the Lord Provost is heading up the Appeal for funding.  There has been quite a bit of publicity and a number of people have defied the old music hall joke about the meanness of Aberdonians.    Significantly, there have been a couple of anonymous donations of very large amounts but more is needed.   When the Trustees met last week to consider the many application requests for funding I found it eye-opening to read the hardship which is suffered by many families in this, OUR CITY, thus I am incorporating a copy of a recent press article which carries more details including how individuals can contribute to the Fund.   Please offer your support.  Regretfully in terms of our Trust, we are forbidden from contributing to such initiatives, but perhaps individual Burgesses would like to make a contribution.

Best wishes to everyone, keep well.

                                                Colin

Charity registered in Scotland – Number SCO11857 City of Aberdeen Council Guildry & Mortification Funds

History was made today (12th May) when 23 attendees logged on the virtual AGM meeting at 12.00 noon via the Zoom platform. Attendees included Lord Provost and fellow Burgess Barney Crockett.

Unfortunately Aberdeen City Council Chief Executive, Angela Scott was unable to attend the meeting, but submitted a brief report which is attached below:

We are not anticipating being able to hold events or lunches anytime soon, but we are going to look at holding our annual fun quiz in early December, which may be interactive depending upon the situation with Corona Virus at that time. We will keep you all posted.

Following the posting of the AGM papers yesterday, The Lord Dean has agreed that the meeting can be held via Zoom conference call. Therefore if any Burgesses wish to join at midday on Tuesday 12th May please email clerk Garry Stevens at

clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com

and you will be invited to join.

If there is any questions please send in advance of the meeting to the clerk email address.

Due to Covid – 19 outbreak, the Burgess AGM will not take place in its usual format this year. The Lord Dean and 6 Assessors can meet under exceptional circumstances to hold the AGM. They will be doing so via Video Conferencing at 12.00 noon on 12th May.

Below are the papers and if there are any queries, questions or AOB, please email Clerk Garry Stevens at:

clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com

Please note this year Aberdeen City Council have included the Burgesses accounts along with all other Trust Funds that they manage.

Dear Burgesses

The Lord Dean in conjunction with the Assessors, have taken the decision in light of the current COVID – 19 outbreak to postpone all Lunches and Social Events until further notice.

For those who have paid for lunches or events, we will look to reschedule these at dates in the future. If you would like a refund please email clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com with your bank details and this will be organised, otherwise the payments can be carried forward to the rearranged date.

We trust you will all understand the reasons for this decision and any further updates will be issued via the website as we will be following developments on a daily basis.

I am seeking helping hands and particularly so from any Burgess with an interest in local history and Aberdeen as it is today. ‘This is our City’ and this is the 700th year of the Freedom Lands which were gifted to the Aberdeen by King Robert the Bruce on 10th December 1319. This was a significant moment in our history which, with the support of Aberdeen City Council, should be and will be recognised by a number of actions and events.

The Burgesses of Guild have been given the opportunity to take the lead on a few activities which will include :
–    Planting of 700 trees within the City boundary
–    Siting of decorative ‘Book Benches’ at most if not all of our
     schools, each to be scripted with a story or snippet of our history
–    Replacement and/or maintenance of the March Stones
–    Possibility of a NUART feature on the Burgesses and/or the Freedom
     Lands and/or Robert the Bruce
–    Placing of a plaque at the King Robert statue outside Marischal
     College, with an explanation for it being there and the King’s contribution to the City and why
–    Possibility of a street name or names with relevance to the
     Burgesses of Guild
–    A website focussed on the Freedom Lands, March Stones, Robert the
     Bruce and local history including the Burgesses

These ideas and suggestions have come forward and discussed and now I am asking and encouraging Burgesses to join the project team, please.  Isn’t
it entirely appropriate that Burgesses should be involved ?      Please give
this some serious thought and either email or call me if you have any
questions.

Colin G.Taylor
E : cgtlor@gmail.com
M:   07765 232 557
Lord Dean of Guild of the City and Royal Burgh of Aberdeen