Author Archives: Susan Mitchell

We are delighted to welcome the following new Burgesses:

Some of you attended the lunch where John Otto, Kimberlie Hamilton and Ken McHardy told us about Prof JJR MacLeod, Nobel Prize winner for his lead role in the discovery of insulin.

It is no exaggeration when I say that the majority of people had not heard that name before, far less understand that this Aberdonian had not received the recognition he deserved for the outstanding contribution he made to medical science, resulting in millions of lives being saved. John’s immediate objective was to communicate the JJR Macleod story and have a statue erected in his honour in his native Aberdeen.

That objective was achieved last week when on 12^th October a magnificent sculpture of JJR MacLeod was unveiled at the Duthie Park – the first talking sculpture in Scotland. The photograph shows the statue and those who unveiled it. I am proud to say that four Burgesses were in that group and several more Burgesses and their families who generously contributed to its commissioning. It is also worthy of note that the wall surrounding the statue contains a top stone reading “Burgesses of Guild of the City of Aberdeen”

Thank you to all Burgesses who contributed in many ways to this statue and to the project itself, but we all thank John Otto for getting it done.

Please see the link below to access some more information.

Kind Regards

Lord Dean of Guild

35 Burgesses of Guild attended an excellent evening on Wednesday 16th August to the newly refurbished Gordon Highlanders Museum. After an excellent buffet in the café the attendees were given a tour of the garden, the museum itself, including the armoury, archives, and the regimental dining room, which is still in use today. It is often called a hidden gem in the City, but with the work that has gone in to the refurbishment highlighting the history of the Regiment lets hope it becomes a lot less hidden! It is well worth a visit.

Thanks go to Ian Pithie, Head of Visitor Experience at the museum for assisting in organising our visit, and to all the Museum staff for ensuring our visit was a memorable and informative one.

Fellow Burgess Stuart Milne recently retired after a long and distinguished career as General Manager at Finnies the Jewellers. He took a well-deserved holiday of a lifetime to the USA, but clearly hasn’t got the meaning of ‘retired with feet up’. Immediately upon his return to the UK he decided to undertake an abseil down the tower at King’s Church Bridge of Don in aid of the Archie Foundation. He raised over £3700 and a few eyebrows too when he did in in full formal dinner attire – or was he auditioning for the vacant 007 role? Well done, Stewart, we are all proud of your commitment. His JustGiving site is still open for a few days if any fellow Burgesses want to show their support by donating. The link to the JustGiving page is:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stuart-milne11?utm_source=sms&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=stuart-milne11&utm_campaign=pfp-sms&utm_term=60276ff2e8e4400b85b12ba8a6b284b1

We are delighted to welcome the following new Burgesses of Guild admitted at Full Council on Wednesday 14th June: