News

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:

Please see below letter sent to His Majesty from the Lord Dean of Guild on behalf of the Burgesses of Guild of the City of Aberdeen on the event of his Coronation.

Despite the wintery conditions, over 60 Burgesses attended an excellent lunch at Pittodrie Stadium, hosted by Aberdeen Football Club in the Richard Donald Stand. Chairman Dave Cormack and some of his team gave an excellent presentation on all that is happening in and around the club, including Community Engagement, Financing of team and Club Operations moving forward and Strategies for growth, along with new stadium development plans.

The hospitality afforded to us on the day was excellent and Mike Wilson gave a vote of thanks to Dave Cormack, his Team and the Club for allowing us to be guests at our lunch at Pittodrie.

This concludes our lunches for 2022, posting for January and February lunches is already on the website, and we look forward to welcoming as many Burgesses as possible to next years programme.

As Clerk may I wish all Burgesses and their families a very Merry Xmas, and a happy, healthy 2023!

We are delighted to pass on congratulations to Burgess Alex Mair on the occasion of reaching his 100th birthday on 5th November.

Alex, Retired MD at Grampian TV, was admitted as a Burgess in 1986. Even at 100 years of age Alex continues to inspire those around him, and his contribution to the City and Chamber of Commerce in particular has been significant.

We wish Alex a very happy birthday and trust he has enjoyed the celebrations to commemorate such a significant event.

The Lord Dean has asked me to clarify the process for booking lunches and events moving forward.

I will post details of the lunch or event to the website with a request that anyone wishing to attend must confirm via the clerk email address. Please do not use the comments tab on the posting page as this is not monitored daily, unlike the Clerk email address.

Please do not make payment without confirming your request to attend via email first, as this cannot guarantee your place at the lunch or event.

Once received in the Clerk email inbox, I will confirm by return email that your place (s) has been agreed and you can then make payment via BACS or Cheque. If you do not receive a reply within 2 or 3 days, please send a reminder and I will respond.

Trust this clarifies

Garry Stevens

Clerk to the Burgesses

Over 45 Burgess and guests attended yet another excellent lunch at the RNUC. The presentation from John Otto, and Kimberlie Hamilton gave the background and history to John James Rickard Macleod, from Aberdeen who most Aberdonians are unaware shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1923 as “co-discoverer” of insulin, which is recognised as one of the greatest medical achievements of the last century. It was clear from the presentation that Macleod was more than just a co-discoverer of insulin but played the leading role in leading, supporting research and ultimately the delivery of insulin, which has led to millions of lives being saved worldwide from type 1 diabetes since it went into production.

As Chair of the JJR Macleod Memorial Statue Society, and a diabetic himself, John Otto is keen that the life of Macleod is commemorated in the city of Aberdeen with a statue to be erected in Duthie Park next year.

The attached pdf brochure gives full details of the project, sponsorship and donation details. As a group, if any Burgess felt that they would wish to make a donation to the project, we can open a list and we could send accumulated donations as one from the Burgesses or perhaps purchase a paver as described in the brochure which could be a commemorative donation from Burgesses. Everyone is, of course free to choose how they might wish any donation to be treated.

Any Burgess wishing to donate should contact Clerk Garry Stevens, detailing name and donation amount to:

clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com

A large number of Burgesses attended a unique talk on 19th October from our guest speaker, Roger Hunt.

Roger shared his story of how he became caught up in the Mumbai massacres in 2008 and witnessed the killing of innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Roger talked in detail about his strategies to cope with what turned out to be over 40 hours, when he was a hostage in a burning hotel while a group of suicidal terrorists – who had already murdered hotel workers and guests in cold blood – remained barricaded in with hostages on the floors directly above him.

From these traumatic experiences, Roger shared his views on Human Resilience, endorsing the fact that, we are not born with resilience, but that we acquire it throughout our lives. Roger spoke of resilience being the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress and that every one of us has it within our gift to develop and nurture resilience.

Now Chief of Business Services at Aberdeen airport, Roger shares his experiences widely to a local, national and global audience. A full account of Roger’s experience can be found in his book entitled ‘Be Silent or Be Killed’.

A vote of thanks at the conclusion of the lunch was given by Senior Assessor Mr Joe Mackie OBE.

Happy to confirm that guests can be invited to the lunch detailed below.

We are delighted to announce that our lunch in December will be a talk by Aberdeen FC chairman, Dave Cormack who will update us on what is happening at the club, plans for the future etc. We have accepted the kind invitation from the club to hold the lunch at Pittodrie.

The lunch will be held in the Richard Donald Stand, Level 3 – Pittodrie Stadium, and will commence promptly at – 1214 Hours (date of our Charter) and conclude at 1400 Hours prompt.

The lunch menu is detailed below. At present the lunch is open to Burgesses only. If you wish to attend, please email Garry Stevens at:

clerk@aberdeenburgesses.com

Please do not reply via comments tab on the posting as this is not checked as regularly as the email address

Cost of the lunch is £19.15 per person. This can be paid via cheque made payable to Burgesses of Guild of the City of Aberdeen and sent to Garry Stevens, Clerk to the Burgesses of Guild, 6 Craigarbel Crescent, Inverbervie, Montrose DD10 0SJ or via BACS to:

Sort Code 826011, Account Number 50325609, Ref Surname/Lunch

Some Burgesses still carry a credit from previous lunches, so this can be allocated to this lunch if required.