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Stop 7: Miss Bella Walker (1887-1962) and Miss Elsie Moffat (1894-1985) St Katherine's club, West North Street, (now Lemon Tree building)
2306 The next stop is the building now known as the Lemon Tree but this was built especially for St Katherine's Club as is still known affectionately by the older generation as St Kay's.
St Katherine's Club was originally set up in October 1917 for working class girls to have a comfortable meeting place away from the crowded and dismal conditions of their homes during WW1. Held in two rooms in a tenement in the Shiprow, the club was founded by Miss Bella Walker and Miss Elsie Moffat and they provided an environment which was at once domestic, educational and recreational. There were classes in home craft, art and craft, drama and literature, and physical education. The club grew to a membership of over 500 until it moved to the purpose-built YWCA building at 5 West North Street in 1937. It continued to grow and evolved as the needs arose. In the 1960s there was a greater awareness of adolescent, social and personal issues and the 'Open Club' was set up. In 1990 with the money from the sale of the building, the St Katherine's Trust was established and has met twice yearly to make financial donations to local organisations and groups.
Aberdeen Women's Centre, Shoe Lane (1989-2006)
In the former Caretaker's flat of the St Katherine's Club, Aberdeen Women's Centre offered a women-only space for women's groups and classes to meet. With urban aid funding came staff which included the city's first Minority Ethnic Development Worker for women.
Memories:
Memories of the St Katherine's Club 1
Memories of the St Katherine's Club 2 Cothal Mills
4292 A photograph looking north across the River Don towards the remains of Cothal Mills in June 1976. This image was likely taken not far from Dyce Cemetery.
Foxgloves can be seen in the foreground on the southern bank of the river. The buildings on the other side were part of a former woollen, yarn or flock mill complex.
The book Gordon: an illustrated architectural guide (1994) by Ian Shepherd, page 170, states that the mills, steam and water powered, once employed upwards of 100 workers and were superseded by the larger works downstream at Grandhome.
See Crombies of Grandholm and Cothal, 1805-1960: records of an Aberdeenshire enterprise (1960) edited by John R. Allan for more information on the use of the mills by the Crombie firm.
An entry for the mills in the Aberdeenshire Ordnance Survey Name Books, 1865-1871, reads as follows:
"A large pile of buildings situated close to the river Don. Originally there was a meal mill here and subsequently, when the greater portion of the houses were erected, the manufacture of woollen cloth was carried on; now yarn is the only production. Motive power water. Contiguous to the mill there are a considerable number of dwellinghouses inhabited by the mill workers. Property of Sir William Forbes Bart." (reference: OS1/1/30/64)
Large scale Ordnance Survey mapping indicates that Cothal Mills were disused by around the mid-20th century.
At the time of writing in 2023, the main buildings shown here have been converted to residential use. A property notice titled 'Old Mill by River Don up for grabs' in the Press & Journal of 24th March 1992, page 18, states that Upper Cothal Mill, on the right in this image but mostly obscured by trees, then up for sale, had been converted into a spacious family home in 1985, following a period of disrepair. |