News

Welcome to 7 new Burgesses of Guild admitted on Wednesday 14th December:

From Top – Left to Right

Philip Astley – Archivist, Aberdeen City Council. Proposed by Dr Chris Croly, Seconded by Lord Dean.

Cllr Andrew Finlayson – Aberdeen City Council Councillor. Proposed by John Reynolds, Seconded by Lord Dean.

Prof Fredrik Glasser – Lecturer/Prof of Chemistry. Proposed by John Michie, Seconded by Lesley Glasser.

Dr Kenneth Skeldon MBE – Scientist & Public Engagement & Outreach Aberdeen University. Proposed by Dr Chris Croly, Seconded by Caroline Inglis.

Catherine Thornhill – Head of Planning and Associate Director Savills (UK) Ltd. Proposed by Simpson Buglass, seconded by Charles Smith.

Jennifer Catto – Staff Nurse. Proposed by Lord Dean, Seconded by Douglas Gallacher.

Alison Hunter – Human Resources Director Technip. Proposed by Lord Dean seconded by Douglas Gallacher.

It was a very proud day for the Lord Dean of Guild as Jennifer and Alison are his daughters. Below is a the Lord Dean with Jennifer and Alison after they were admitted.

A total of 12 teams took part in this year’s annual quiz, held at Aberdeenshire Cricket Club. Past Dean Fred Dalgarno was once again quizmaster and set some challenging questions over a wide range of subjects, along with 2 picture rounds and a new addition from previous years, 2 Dingbat rounds. At the end of the quiz, Burgess Alan Towns and his team were victorious by a very slim margin of 1 point.

The Lord Dean, at the end of the evening which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, thanked Aberdeenshire Cricket Club and staff for their excellent hospitality and wonderful buffet supper. Also to Fred for once again taking on the mantle of Quizmaster. We look forward to next year!

Winning Team with Lord Dean and Past Dean

Lord Dean also took the opportunity to advise places are still available for the following events and if you wish to attend please email Clerk Garry Stevens at:

clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com

Wednesday 7th December – Lunch with guest Cllr Alan Donnelly

Saturday 28th January – Block booking of tickets for King & I at HMT

Wednesday 1 February – Lunch with guest Adrian Watson, CEO, Aberdeen Inspired

We are also pleased to announce that on Monday 27th February 2017, Paul Mealor has agreed to hold a “Paul Mealor and Friends” evening at Elphinstone Hall. Further details will be advised in due course.

On Tuesday 15th November a group of Burgesses were welcomed by fellow Burgess Gavin Fraser and his colleagues to the new Data Centre opened in Autumn last year at Whytemyers,  Aberdeen by Brightsolid. Brightsolid is a cloud and application hosting specialist wholly owned by the famous Scottish publishing company DC Thomson Ltd. Operating UK data centres in Dundee and Aberdeen they have been working with Enterprise, Energy and Government to reduce the risk and increase the agility of their IT estate by providing the latest technologies that deliver real business value. Clients signed up to use the hosting facilities at the Aberdeen data centre include businesses and organisations across both the public and private sectors.

Those in attendance were given a very informative and interesting tour of the facility. Thanks go to Gavin and his team for inviting and hosting the Burgesses.

Assessor Alistair Ritchie presented Derek Roy, Brightsolid Data Centre Manager, with a certificate from the Burgesses confirming the visit to the data centre

PLACES ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR THE LUNCHES LISTED BELOW:

We are pleased to announce that the programme of lunches has been agreed up to and including February 2017. Lunches will be held at the RNUC Albyn Place and the cost will be £14. Lunches commence at 12.14pm and finish at 2.00pm prompt.

Wednesday 5th October – Newly admitted Burgess Kenneth Taylor will give a short illustrated talk on Scottish Forestry through the eyes of a “North East Loon” Ken was born in Fonthill and grew up in Craigiebuckler. Childhood visits to the forests of Hazelhead and “The Forest of Birse” clearly had some effect on him, as he went on to read Forestry at Aberdeen University. A 25 year carreer as a Forest Manager with Scottish Woodlands Ltd he oversaw the Harvesting and Establishment work at Balmoral, Birkhall, and Delnadamph Estates for the Royal Family as well as other various Aberdeenshire Private Estates. Ken now works for Savils, who having recently purchased Smiths Gore are increasing their Forest Management portfolio

Wednesday 2 November – Danny Streams, Regional Fundraiser for Poppy Scotland will be the guest speaker, and will give an informal presentation on how Poppy Scotland is organised, who they work closely with, and how the money collected during the year and particularly during the annual poppy appeal is used. Danny will also give some information on their flagship Welfare Centre in Inverness.

Wednesday 7th December – Councillor Alan Donnelly will reflect on his childhood as a boy growing up in Jarrow in the North East of England

Wednesday 1st February – Newly appointed CEO of Aberdeen Inspired Adrian Watson, will be guest speaker and will update the lunch on Aberdeen Inspired’s current plans and those for the future.

If you wish to attend f the lunches please contact Clerk Garry Stevens at:

Clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com

Payment can be made via cheque for £14 made payable to Burgesses of Guild of the City of Aberdeen and send to:

Garry Stevens, Clerk to the Burgesses, 6 Craigarbel Crescent, Inverbervie, Montrose, DD10 0SJ

or

Online to

Sort Code 82-60-11 Account Number 50325609 – Ref Surname/Lunch

Welcome to the following new Burgesses admitted on 17th August 2016. From top: Doris Campbell – Ex Local Govt Officer, Kenneth Taylor – Forester,  Prof Andrew Porter – Academic & Entrepreneur, Alastair Hunter – Sales Manager, Roxanne Watt – Nurse

The Friendship Trophy played between the Burgesses of Guild and the Incorporated Trades was again played by way of a golf match at Deeside Golf Club, on Tuesday 2nd August. Conditions were generally favourable and for the second year running the Burgesses triumphed by a very slim margin.

Overall winner on the day was Burgess and also Incorporated Trade Burgess, Mark McCue who also won the annual Burgess t played at the same time as the Friendship Trophy.

The Lord Dean Colin Taylor and Deacon Convenor both thanked Colin Campbell for organising the event and also Deeside Golf Club as hosts. Pictured below is Deacon Convenor David Parkinson presenting overall winner Mark McCue with his prize and David presenting Lord Dean Colin Taylor with the Friendship Trophy.

Louise Baxter – Retired Teacher

Duncan Skinner – Social Entrepreneur

Wendy Kennedy OBE – Senior Civil Servant

Michael Laing – Structural Engineer

Howard Smith – Retired Teacher

Brian Gill – Engineer

Sheila Watson – Social Worker Retired

A group of 20 Burgesses and guests enjoyed a two course lunch and coffee at the home of Aberdeen Cyrenians at 62 Summer Street on Wednesday 4th May.  We were welcomed by Deputy Chief Executive Scott Baxter who was supported by colleagues Mimi and Nicky – we thank all three – and after lunch Scott gave a very interesting and comprehensive talk on the
history, purpose and activities of the Aberdeen Cyrenians.   We were impressed!

This is a LOCAL charity, truly ‘for Aberdeen’, it was appropriate therefore that the Burgesses visited to listen and learn.  The Lord Dean was keen that there should be a good attendance on this occasion and was not disappointed, and on behalf of the Burgesses he was pleased to
present Scott with a cheque for £300.

Aberdeen Cyrenians have an ambitious and varied programme of fund raising events, including the following.   Perhaps there are Burgesses who will be keen to participate or support ?

15^th of May – Baker Hughes 10K – Aberdeen – The biggest running event in Aberdeen, needing both runners and volunteers.

24^th of June – Charity Golf Challenge – Inverurie Golf Course. Joint fundraiser with Inspire. Golfers and Sponsors required for this Texas Scramble

7^th of October – Sleepout 2016  – Asda Cark Park, Bridge of Dee, Aberdeen – Our flagship fund and awareness raiser, teams of 4 and also volunteers required

For more details of these confirmed events please contact Nicky MacBeath Fundraising Officer,
nicky.macbeath@aberdeen-cyrenians.org 01224 625732

Left to Right: Michael Head – Librarian (Retired), Alex Innes – Actor and Sheila Riddell – Architect