Aberdeen

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Aberdeen, often called The Granite City, is Scotland's third largest city, with a population of 212,125. Aberdeen is the chief commercial centre and seaport in the north-east of Scotland. The city is often referred to as the Oil Capital of Europe thanks to becoming, in the 1970s, a major service base for the extraction of crude oil in the North Sea.

The city forms the Aberdeen City unitary council area , and it is surrounded by the Aberdeenshire council area. It mostly stands between the mouths of the rivers Don and Dee.

History

Aberdeen grew up as two separate burghs: Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the River Don; and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement where the Denburn entered the Dee estuary. The earliest charter was granted by King William the Lion about 1179, confirming the corporate rights granted by David I. The city received other royal charters later. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property owning and financially independent community. Bruce had a high regard for the citizens of Aberdeen who had sheltered him in his days of outlawry, helped him win the Battle of Barra and slayed the English garrison at the Castle. He granted Aberdeen with the nearby Forest of Stocket. The income from this land has formed the basis for the city's Common Good Fund, which is used to this day for the benefit of all Aberdonians.

The city was burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was soon rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. For many centuries the city was subject to attacks by the neighbouring lords, and was strongly fortified, but the gates were all removed by 1770. In 1497 a blockhouse was built at the harbour mouth as a protection against the English. During the Scottish Civil War of 1644-47 between the Royalists and Covenanters the city was impartially plundered by both sides. In 1644, it was taken and sacked by Royalist troops comprising of Irishmen and Highlanders after the battle of Aberdeen. In 1715 the Earl Marischal proclaimed the Old Pretender at Aberdeen, and in 1745 the Duke of Cumberland resided for a short time in the city before attacking the Young Pretender.

In the 18th century a new Town Hall was built, elegantly furnished with a marble fireplace from Holland and a set of fine crystal chandeliers and sconces. The latter are still a feature in the Town House. This century also saw the beginnings of social services for the Infirmary at Woolmanhill which was opened in 1742 and the Lunatic Asylum in 1779.

The 19th century was a time of considerable expansion. By 1901 the population was 153,000 and the city covered more than 6,000 acres (24 km²). In the late 18th century, the council embarked on a scheme of road improvements, and by 1805 George Street, King Street and Union Street were open, the latter a feat of extraordinary engineering skill involving the partial levelling of St Catherine's Hill and the building of arches to carry the street over Putachieside. The Denburn Valley was crossed by Union Street with a single span arch of 130 ft (40 m). Along these new streets was built the nucleus of the Granite City, many of whose buildings were designed by John Smith and Archibald Simpson.

The increasing economic importance of Aberdeen and the development of the shipbuilding and fishing industries brought a need for improved harbour facilities. During this century much of the harbour as it exists today was built including Victoria Dock, the South Breakwater and the extension to the North Pier. Such an expensive building programme had repercussions, and in 1817 the city was in a state of bankruptcy. However, a recovery was made in the general prosperity which followed the Napoleonic wars. Improvements in street lighting came in 1824 with the advent of gas, and a vast improvement was made to the water supply in 1830 when water was pumped from the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewerage system was begun in 1865 to replace the open sewers which previously ran along certain of the streets.

The city was first incorporated in 1891.

Present-day Aberdeen

Though Old Aberdeen had a separate charter and history, it and New Aberdeen are no longer truly distinct. The area of the city extends to 71.22 square miles (184.46 km²), and includes the former burghs of Old Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Woodside and the Royal Burgh of Torry to the south of the River Dee. The city is represented in the United Kingdom Parliament by two MPs who are both from the Labour Party, and in the Scottish Parliament by three MSPs (one Labour, one Scottish Nationalist and one Liberal Democrat). The city council comprises forty-three councillors who represent the city's wards and is headed by the Lord Provost. The current Lord Provost is John Reynolds.

As of 1996, Aberdeen has been governed by the unitary Aberdeen City Council and no longer has any direct control over the neighbouring area of Aberdeenshire, although the headquarters of Aberdeenshire Council are located within the city. Since the 2003 election, the city has been run by a coalition of 20 Scottish Liberal Democrat and 3 Conservative councillors.

Population growth

In 1396 the population was about 3,000. By 1801 it had become 26,992; in 1841 it was 63,262; (1891) 121,623; (1901) 153,503; in 2001 it was 197,328. In 2006 the population stood at 212,125.

Climate

The mean temperature is 8 °C (47 °F) and it varies between 0.4 °C (32.7 °F) in winter and 17.6 °C (63.7 °F) in summer. The average yearly rainfall is 816 mm.

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Coat of Arms of Aberdeen

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"Simplified" Coat of Arms used in Council logo

Coat of Arms and Motto

The coat of arms shows a red shield bearing three triple towered castles within the double royal tressure. It is widely accepted that these represent the fortifications which from earliest times stood on the three hills where the city sprang up, namely Castle Hill, the Port or Windmill Hill (now Gallowgate) and St Catherine's Hill (around the present Adelphi). The Arms are supported by two leopards – one either side – and above, the scroll with the words "Bon Accord".

Legend has it that during the Wars of Scottish Independence, when the Castle of Aberdeen was stormed and the English troops 'were killed all in one night', the watchword to initiate the campaign was 'Bon Accord', and it is from this massacre that the Coat of Arms and the motto originated.

Architecture and built environment

Granite city

Union Street is one of the most imposing and famous thoroughfares in Britain. From Castle Street it runs for nearly a mile (1.5 km), is 70 ft (21 m) wide, and originally contained the principal shops and most of the public buildings, all of granite. Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilized for the line of the Great North of Scotland railway) by Union Bridge, a fine granite arch of 132 ft (40 m) span, with portions of the older town still fringing the gorge, 50 feet (15 m) below the level of Union Street. Union Street was built from 1801 to 1805, and named after the 1800 Act of Union with Ireland.

Amongst the notable buildings in the street are the Town and County Bank, the Music Hall 1822, the Trinity Hall of the incorporated trades (originating between 1398 and 1527), now a shopping mall; the Palace Hotel; the former office of the Northern Assurance Company, and the National Bank of Scotland.

In Castle Street, a continuation eastwards of Union Street, is the Town House, the headquarters of the city council. One of the most splendid granite edifices in Scotland, in the Franco-Scottish Gothic style, it contains the great hall, with an open timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the Sheriff Court House; the Town and County Hall, with portraits of Prince Albert, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, various Lord Provosts and other distinguished citizens. In the vestibule of the entrance corridor stands a suit of black armour, believed to have been worn by Provost Sir Robert Davidson, who fought in the Battle of Harlaw in 1411. On the south-western corner is the 210 ft (64 m) grand tower, which commands a fine view of the city and surrounding country. Adjoining the Town House is the old North of Scotland Bank building, in Greek Revival style. This building is now a pub named the Archibald Simpson, after its original architect. On the opposite side of the street is the fine building of the Union Bank, redeveloped in 2005 as the High Court. The third permanent high court to sit in Scotland.

At the upper end of Castlegate stands The Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated mansion, on the site of the medieval castle. In front of it is the Market Cross, built in 1686 by John Montgomery, a native architect. This open-arched structure, 21 ft (6 m) in diameter and 18 ft (5 m) high, comprises a large hexagonal base from the centre of which rises a shaft with a Corinthian capital, on which is the royal unicorn. The base is highly decorated, including medallions illustrating Scottish monarchs from James I to James VII. To the east of Castle Street were the military barracks, which were demolished in 1965 and replaced with two tower blocks.

Marischal College on Broad Street, opened by King Edward VII in 1906, is the second largest granite building in the world (after the Escorial, Madrid), and is one of the most splendid examples of Edwardian architecture in Britain. The architect, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, a native of Aberdeen, adapted his material, white granite, to the design of the building with the originality of genius. This magnificent building is sadly no longer a seat of learning and is under renovation as the new home of Aberdeen City Council.

Churches

Like most Scottish burghs, Aberdeen has many churches. However, in the Middle Ages there was only one burgh kirk, St Nicholas' Kirk, one of Scotland's largest parish churches. Like a number of other Scottish kirks, it was subdivided after the Reformation, in this case into the East and West churches.

The large kirkyard of St Nicholas' Kirk is separated from Union Street by a 147 ft (45 m) long Ionic facade, built in 1830. The divided church within, with a central tower and spire, forms one continuous building 220 ft (67 m) in length. It contains the Drum Aisle (the ancient burial-place of the Irvines of Drum Castle) and the Collison Aisle, which divide the two congregations and which formed the transepts of the 12th-century church of St Nicholas (architectural detail survives from this period). The West Church was built in 1775, in the Italian style, on the site of the medieval nave, the East originally in 1834 in Gothic-revival style on the site of the choir. In 1874 a fire destroyed the East Church and the old central tower with its fine peal of nine bells, one of which, Laurence or "Lowrie", was 4 ft (1.2 m) in diameter at the mouth, 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high and very thick. The church was rebuilt and a massive granite tower erected over the intervening aisles, a new peal of 36 bells, cast in the Netherlands, being installed to commemorate the Victorian jubilee of 1887. These were replaced in 1950 with a carillion of 48 bells, the largest in the UK.

The Diocese of Aberdeen is said to have been first founded at Mortlach in Banffshire by Máel Coluim II (1005-34) to celebrate his victory there over the Danes, but in 1137 David I (1124-53) transferred the bishopric to Old Aberdeen, and twenty years later St Machar's Cathedral was begun, a few hundred yards from the Don. With the exception of the period of the episcopate of William Elphinstone (1484-1511), building progressed slowly. Gavin Dunbar, who followed him in 1518, completed the structure by adding the two western spires and the southern transept. The church suffered severely at the Reformation, but is still used by the Church of Scotland as a parish church. The choir was abandoned to decay and the central tower collapsed in the course of the 17th century. It now consists of the nave and the two-storeyed entrance porch (the former in use as the parish church) and the lower walls of the transepts. These are under the care of Historic Scotland, and contain an important group of late medieval bishops' tombs, protected from the weather by modern canopies. The Cathedral is chiefly built of outlayer granite, and, though one of the plainest cathedrals in Scotland, its stately simplicity and severe symmetry lend it unique distinction. On the unique flat panelled ceiling of the nave (first half of the 16th century) are the heraldic shields of the contemporary kings of Europe, and the chief earls and bishops of Scotland. The great west window contains modern painted glass of excellent colour and design. The Cathedral contains a number of well-preserved grave-monuments to the late medieval clergy, a rare Romanesque cross-head and an early Christian cross-slab from Seaton.

In the Middle Ages, Aberdeen contained houses of the Carmelites (Whitefriars) and Franciscans (Greyfriars), the latter surviving in modified form as the chapel of Marischal College as late as the early 20th century.

St. Mary's Cathedral is the Roman Catholic Cathedral. A Gothic building, it was erected in 1859.

St. Andrew's Cathedral is the Scottish Episcopal Cathedral. The Episcopal Church in Aberdeen is notable for having consecrated the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Samuel Seabury. The cathedral was rennovated in the 1930s to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Seabury's consecration. The memorial was dedicated with a ceremony attended by the then U.S. ambassador to the UK, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.

The cemeteries are St Peter's in Old Aberdeen; Trinity near the links; Nellfield at the junction of Great Western and Holburn Roads; Allenvale, adjoining Duthie Park; and the most recent facilities at Dyce. There is also a crematorium and cemetery near Hazlehead.

Also churches still in use today are located in the city centre including Bon Accord Free Church which is situated on Rosemount viaduct near His Majesty's Theatre and Gilcomston South Church situated at the corner of Union Street and Summer Street. Many other churches in the city centre have been converted into bars and restuarants.

Bridges

The Dee is crossed by a number of bridges, from east to west:

Victoria Bridge
Queen Elizabeth Bridge
Wellington Suspension Bridge
Railway bridge
King George VI Bridge
Bridge of Dee
St. Devenick's Bridge

Until 1832, the only access to the city from the south was the Bridge of Dee. It consists of seven semicircular ribbed arches, is about 30 ft (10 m) high, and was built early in the 16th century by Bishops Elphinstone and Dunbar. It was nearly all rebuilt 1718-1723, and in 1842 was widened from 14 to 26 ft (4 to 8 m). This was the site of a battle in 1639 between the Royalists under Viscount Aboyne and the Covenanters who were led by the Marquis of Montrose.

St. Devenick's Bridge, which crosses the Dee from Ardoe to Cults, was built in 1837 to link the now ruined Banchory Devenick Parish Church, on the south bank of the Dee, with its parishoners, who lived on the north bank. It was officially named St. Devenick's Bridge, but is popularly known by Aberdonians as the Shakin' Briggie or Shakkin Briggie, or as Morrison Bridge. The cast-iron pedestrian footbridge was damaged by floods in 1876 and 1920, and was reconstructed in the 1920s. However, due to erosion, the Dee shifted its course in the 1970s and 1980s, sweeping away the southern approach spans, and in 1984 the decking was removed as a safety precation. The bridge is a Grade A listed structure and there are plans to restore it.

More information on the Victoria and Wellington bridges is in the article on Torry, the area on the south of the Dee to which they connect.

From east to west the Don is crossed by:

Bridge of Don
Brig o' Balgownie
Grandholm Bridge
Persley Bridge

The Bridge of Don has five granite arches, each 75 ft (23 m) in span, and was built 1827-1832. A little to the west is the Auld Brig o' Balgownie, a picturesque single arch spanning the deep black stream, said to have been built by King Robert I, and celebrated by George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron in the tenth canto of "Don Juan". It is closed to motor vehicles. The Grandholm Bridge is open to all pedestrians and cycles, but motor vehicles require an electronic pass to lower a barrier, in place following the construction nearby of a major housing development on the north side of the river.

Statues

Adjacent to Union Terrace Gardens stands a colossal bronze statue of William Wallace, by W. G. Stevenson. Also nearby these same gardens are a bronze statue of Robert Burns and Charles Marochetti's seated figure of Prince Albert.

In front of Robert Gordon's College is the bronze statue, by T. S. Burnett, of General Gordon. At the head of Queen's Road stands the bronze statue of Queen Victoria, erected in 1893 by the royal tradesmen of the city. Near the Cross stands the granite statue of George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon.

There is a 70 ft (21 m) high obelisk of Peterhead granite, originally erected in the square of Marischal College, to the memory of Sir James McGrigor (1778-1851), the military surgeon and director-general of the Army Medical Department, who was thrice elected lord rector of the College. In the 1890s when the College was extended, the obelisk was moved to the Duthie Park.There is also a statue commemorating Lord Byron in Aberdeen Grammar School in the front grounds.

Harbour

Aberdeen Harbour is the principal commercial port in northern Scotland and an international port for general cargo, roll-on/roll-off from and container traffic.

Originally, the defective harbour, with a shallow sand and gravel bar at its entrance, retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but under various acts since 1773 it was greatly deepened. The north pier, built partly by John Smeaton 1775-1781, and partly by Thomas Telford 1810-1815, extends nearly 3,000 ft (1000 m) into the North Sea and raised the bar. A wet dock of 29 acres (117,000 m²) and with 6000 ft (1800 m) of quay, was completed in 1848 and called Victoria Dock in honour of the queen's visit to the city in that year. Adjoining it is the Upper Dock. By the Harbour Act of 1868, the Dee near the harbour was diverted from the south at a cost of £80,000, and 90 acres (364,000 m²) of new ground, in addition to 25 acres (101,000 m²) formerly made up, were provided on the north side of the river for the Albert Basin (with a graving dock), quays and warehouses. A 1050 ft (320 m) long concrete breakwater was constructed on the south side of the stream as a protection against south-easterly gales. On Girdleness, the southern point of the bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833. Thirty-two people were drowned in the harbour on 5 April 1876, in the River Dee Ferry Boat Disaster. The harbour serves Northlink Ferries, which sail to Kirkwall and the Shetlands. Aberdeen Harbour was the first publicly limited company in the United Kingdom. A harbour in Hong Kong has been named Aberdeen Harbour, supposedly by expatriates from the Scottish city.

Industry

Owing to the variety and importance of its chief industries Aberdeen is one of the most prosperous cities in Scotland. Very durable grey granite was quarried at Rubislaw quarry for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed paving "setts", kerb and building stones, and monumental and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the district to all parts of the world. Quarrying finally ceased in 1971.

This, though once the predominant industry, was surpassed by the deep-sea fisheries, which derived a great impetus from improved technologies throughout the twentieth century. Lately, however, catches have fallen due to overfishing in previous years, and the use of the harbour by oil support vessels. Aberdeen remains an important fishing port, but the catch landed there is now eclipsed by the more northerly ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh. The Fisheries Research Services is based in Aberdeen, including its headquarters and a marine research lab.

In addition to fisheries research, Aberdeen is well regarded for the agricultural and soil research that takes place at The Macaulay Institute, which has close links to the city's two universities.

Most of the leading pre-1970s industries date from the 18th century, amongst them woollens (1703), linen (1749), and cotton (1779). These gave employment to several thousands of operatives. The paper-making industry is one of the most famous and oldest in the city, paper having been first made in Aberdeen in 1694. The industry has however, all but collapsed. Donside Paper Mill closed in 2001 and the Davidson Mill (run by BPB Paperboard) in 2005. Flax-spinning and jute and combmaking factories also flourished, along with successful foundries and engineering works.

In the days of wooden ships ship-building was a flourishing industry, the town being noted for its fast clippers, many of which established records in the "tea races". The introduction of trawling revived this to some extent, and despite the distance of the city from the iron fields there was a fair yearly output of iron vessels. The last major shipbuilder in Aberdeen, Hall Russells, closed in the late 1980's.

With the discovery of significant oil deposits in the North Sea during the late twentieth century, Aberdeen became the centre of Europe's petroleum industry, with the port serving oil rigs off-shore. The number of jobs created by the energy industry in and around Aberdeen has been estimated at half a million. In 1988, the city was dealt a heavy blow by the loss-of-life suffered during an explosion and fire aboard one such rig, the Piper Alpha.

Education

The first of Aberdeen's two universities, King's College, was founded in 1495 by William Elphinstone (1431-1514), Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland. Marischal College was founded in New Aberdeen by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal of Scotland in 1593. These foundations were amalgamated to form the present University of Aberdeen in 1860. King's and Marischal were Scotland's third and fifth oldest universities respectively.

Robert Gordon's College (originally Robert Gordon's Hospital) was founded in 1729 by the merchant Robert Gordon, grandson of the map maker Robert Gordon of Straloch, and was further endowed in 1816 by Alexander Simpson of Collyhill. Originally devoted to the instruction and maintenance of the sons of poor burgesses of guild and trade in the city, it was reorganized in 1881 as a day and night school for secondary and technical education, and in the 1990s became co-educational and a day-only school. It also produced the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology, which in 1992 became The Robert Gordon University.

Gray's School of Art, founded in 1886, is one of the oldest established colleges of art in the UK. It is situated in beautiful grounds at Garthdee on the edge of the city. It is now incorporated into Robert Gordon University.

Aberdeen College has several campuses in Aberdeen and offers a wide variety of part-time and full-time courses leading to several different qualifications. It the largest further education institution in Scotland.

Northern College was a teacher training college with campuses in Aberdeen and Dundee. In 2000, the Aberdeen campus of Northern College became the University of Aberdeen School of Education. In 2006 the Hilton Campus of Northern College in Aberdeen was sold for housing development and demolished.

Aberdeen Grammar School, (now a comprehensive, despite its name) founded in 1263 and one of the oldest schools in Britain, was removed in 1861-1863 from its old quarters in Schoolhill to a large new building, in the Scottish baronial style, off Skene Street. One famous alumnus of the Grammar School is Lord Byron.

There are 12 secondary schools and 54 primary schools which are run by the city council.

There are also a small number of private schools including Albyn School for Girls (co-ed as of 2006), St Margaret's girls school and The Hamilton School (whose curriculum follows the Montessori philosophy). There is also a small French-language school (one of the few in Britain) catering to the oil industry families, an "IB" International school, and a Steiner school.

At Blairs, in Kincardineshire, five miles south-west of Aberdeen, is St. Mary's Roman Catholic College, currently disused, built for the training of young men intended for the priesthood, with plans to turn it into a hotel.

Culture and leisure

Theatres, galleries and museums

The city is blessed with amenities which cover a wide range of cultural activities and boasts a selection of museums. The city is regularly visited by Scotland's National Arts Companies. The Aberdeen Art Gallery houses a collection of Impressionist, Victorian, Scottish and 20th Century British paintings as well as collections of silver and glass. It also includes The Alexander Macdonald Bequest, a collection of late 19th century works donated by the museum's first benefactor and a constantly changing collection of contemporary work and regular visiting exhibitions.

The Aberdeen Maritime Museum, located in Shiprow, tells the story of Aberdeen's links with the sea from the days of sail and clipper ships to the latest oil and gas exploration technology. The museum includes a range of interactive exhibits and models, including an 8.5m (28 feet) high model of the Murchison oil production platform and a 19th Century assembly taken from Rattray Head lighthouse.

Provost Ross' House is the second oldest dwelling house in the city. It was built in 1593 and became the residence of Provost John Ross of Arnage in 1702. The house retains some original medieval features, including a kitchen, fire places and beam-and-board ceilings. The Gordon Highlanders Regimental Museum tells the story of one of Scotland's best known regiments.

The Marischal Museum holds the principal collections of the University of Aberdeen, comprising some 80,000 items in the areas of fine art, Scottish history & archaeology, and European, Mediterranean & Near Eastern archaeology. The museum is open to the public, but also provides an important resource for the University's students and researchers. The permanent displays and reference collections are augmented by regular temporary exhibitions.

Aberdeen's museums and attractions include:

Aberdeen International Youth Festival
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Aberdeen Maritime Museum
Provost Ross' House
The Gordon Highlanders Museum
Marischal Museum
James Dun's House
King's College Visitor and Conference Centre
Museum of Education Victorian Classroom
Provost Skene's House
Tolbooth Museum
Marischal College
Aberdeen Arts Centre
Peacock visual arts
The Lemon Tree
Aberdeen Central Library - containing more than 60,000 volumes.
His Majesty's Theatre
Doonies Farm
Storybook Glen
Codonas Amusement Park, Sunset Boulevard & Miami Beach
Noble's Leisure Family Entertainment Centre/The Boardwalk
Cineworld Cinema (formerly UGC Cinema, Virgin Cinema)
Vue Cinema (formerly The Lighthouse Cinema)
The Belmont Cinema (Picturehouse Cinemas)

Parks and open spaces

Aberdeen has long been famous for its outstanding parks, gardens and floral displays which include 2 million roses, 11 million daffodils and 3 million crocuses. The city has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom contest several times, and at one time was banned from entering to enable other cities to win.

Duthie Park 50 acres (202,000 m²)), situated on Riverside Drive, was named after and gifted to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston in 1881 and opened by Princess Beatrice on 27 September 1883. It occupies an excellent site on the north bank of the Dee and includes extensive gardens, a rose hill, boating pond, bandstand, and play area as well as the David Welch Winter Gardens. First opened in 1899, the Winter Gardens were rebuilt in 1970 following storm damage and extended. They are Europe's largest indoor gardens and one of the most visited in Scotland.

Victoria Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opened in 1871, is a beautiful park situated in the north-western area. There is a conservatory used as a seating area and a fountain made of 14 different granites, presented to the people by the granite polishers and master builders of Aberdeen.

Westburn Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opposite Victoria Park, caters for football and tennis, has a children's cycle track and a play area. An open section of the Westburn runs through the park.

Stewart Park (15 acres (61,000 m²) opened in 1894. The park was named after a former Lord Provost of the city, Sir David Stewart; a section is reserved for cricket and football.

Hazlehead Park is a large, heavily wooded park on the outskirts of the city. It is popular with sports enthusiasts, walkers, naturalists and picnickers. Around the park are football pitches, two golf courses, pitch and putt course, a horseriding school and woods for walking. The park has a significant collection of sculpture by a range of artists and heritage items which have been rescued from various places within the city. It also features Scotland's oldest maze, first planted in 1938.

Aberdeen Beach/Queen's Links is a well-loved and extremely popular recreational area of the city, visited by holidaymakers and city residents all year round. The area is well provided with sporting and recreational facilities, including the Beach Leisure Centre and the Lynx Ice Arena, cafes, restaurants, a fun fair, a multiplex cinema and other attractions.

Johnston Gardens is also a great park worth visiting. Situated behind Queen's Road and just beside Viewfield Road. It hosts many different types of flowers and plants which have been renowned for their beauty. Johnston Gardens also won many 'Britain in Bloom' competitions. Aberdeen itself has won the title of best city 'In Bloom' for 9 nine years in a row.

Seaton Park (270,000 m²) is located in the north of the city and was purchased by the Council in 1947 from Major Hay. Beside the park's south gates stands St Machar's Cathedral. There are flowerbeds and a walled garden beside the old stables, which have been converted for housing. The Cathedral Walk is always a resplendent sight in midsummer and one of the most popular with visitors to the city. Seaton Park is also an access point for the River Don and there is a walk from the park to the city boundary.

Union Terrace Gardens forms a popular rendezvous location in the heart of the city.

Music scene

Aberdeen's music scene includes a variety of live music venues including pubs, clubs, and a number of churches with thriving choirs. Cheilidhs are also common in some of the city's halls. Popular venues include The Lemon Tree, the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, and Aberdeen Music Hall. Aberdonian musicians include Evelyn Glennie, Annie Lennox and Jo McCafferty.

Media

Newspapers

The main newspapers of Aberdeen are the daily Press and Journal and the Evening Express, both printed six days a week. There is also a job-advertising paper, Scot- Ads. There are free newspapers Aberdeen Citzen and Aberdeen Independent.

Broadcasting

For over 45 years, Aberdeen was home to an ITV franchise, Grampian Television. Since a takeover by the Scottish Media Group in the nineties, Grampian's identity and local programming were gradually depleted until the present situation, where Grampian's base in the city's Tullos area is now a northern headquarters for the stv brand, the new name for the Central and Northern Scotland ITV franchises (and formerly for the central franchise alone). However, the local news programme North Tonight is still produced from Aberdeen.

BBC Scotland also have a base in Aberdeen's Beechgrove area. BBC Aberdeen is most known for its production of the Beechgrove Garden television and radio programmes.

The city is the base for a commercial radio company with two channels, Northsound One and Northsound Two. In addition, a multi-ethnic community organisation Multi-ethnic Aberdeen Ltd. runs Multi-ethnic FM (MEFM) on an annual basis using a Restricted Service License (RSL) and is due to apply for a permanent license. The Station House community centre runs a "radio" station broadcasting over the internet. From time to time the University of Aberdeen Students' Representative Council has also obtained an RSL for temporary FM radio broadcasts; its station is known as Slick FM. There is also a radio station called NECR FM, "North-East Community Radio FM".

Retail

Main article: Retail in Aberdeen

Aberdeen is the main shopping location in the north-east of Scotland. The major shopping locations in the city are Union Street, The Bon Accord-St Nicholas Centre, The Mall Trinity and The Academy Shopping Centre, along with dozens of Retail Parks including the Berryden and Kittybrewster Retail Parks.

Sport

Aberdeen Football Club was founded in 1903. Its major success was winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983 and three League Championships between 1980 and 1986, under the current Manchester United F.C. manager Alex Ferguson. The club's stadium is Pittodrie which was Britain's first all-seater stadium.

Aberdeen F.C. holds the distinction of being the last team to have won the Scottish Premier League Championship outside the Old Firm and is the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies adding to their European Cup Winners Cup success by winning the European Super Cup also in 1983.

Well known footballers who have played for the club include Gordon Strachan (Current Celtic manager), Alex McLeish and club legend Willie Miller. Denis Law, the joint top scorer for the Scotland national team was also born in the city, but spent his professional career playing for English and Italian clubs.

Aberdeen also plays host to Cove Rangers F.C. of the Highland Football League, who play at Allan Park in the suburb of Cove Bay.

Aberdeen Golf Club was founded in 1815. It has two 18-hole courses at Balgownie, north of the River Don. There are other golf courses at Auchmill, Balnagask, Hazlehead and King's Links.

Transport

There are four main roads serving the city;

A90 The main arterial route into the city from the South, linking Aberdeen to Edinburgh, Dundee and Perth.
A96 Links to Elgin and Inverness and the North West.
A93 The main route to the West, heading towards Royal Deeside and the Cairngorms.
A92 The original southerly road to Aberdeen prior to the building of the A90, now used as a tourist route, connecting the towns of Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin on the east coast.

The city's original ring road, Anderson Drive, which was built in the 1930s has long since been engulfed by the expansion of the city, and is inadequate for dealing with today's traffic. To this end, a new main bypass road, the Western Peripheral Route, is planned to divert through traffic away from the city centre. The road is due to open in 2010.

Buses in Aberdeen are operated by First Group (whose headquarters are in the city) and also Stagecoach Group. First Aberdeen have the largest share of routes in the city with 22 services running throughout the city.

The city is well served by the national railway network. Aberdeen has regular rail services to Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as long distance trains to London. Regular trains also run north westerly towards Inverness and north to Dyce for the airport.

Aberdeen Airport, in the neighbouring town of Dyce, serves European destinations for passenger and freight flights and is the largest helicopter terminal in the world, serving the many North Sea oil installations. The IATA airport code for the airport is ABZ.

The last tram ran on May 3 1958. All but one were then scrapped; the last is on display in the Grampian Transport Museum at Alford, Aberdeenshire.

City Council

Aberdeen City Council, as currently constituted, was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, to represent the Aberdeen City council area, created at the same time.

Political composition

The council consists, currently, of 20 Liberal Democrat councillors, 14 Labour councillors, 6 Scottish National Party councillors and three Conservative councillors.

The council has been under the control of a Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition, holding 23 of the 43 council seats, since 2003. Prior to the 2003 election, the council had been considered a Labour stronghold.

All seats will become vacant for the next general election to the council in 2007, polling on Thursday 5 May. This election will be the first to use the single transferable vote system and multi-member wards, each ward electing three or four councillors. The new system is to be introduced as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, and is designed to produce a form of proportional representation.