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Aberdeen Beach
45 A George Washington Wilson photograph (no. 4045) showing Aberdeen beach in the late 19th century.
Bathing machines (also called bathings huts) can be seen at the water's edge. These were drawn to and from the sea by horses, as can be seen in the image.
There were about 30 machines on the beach at any one time and male and female bathing areas were segregated.
In 1933 the horses were retired and the machines served as static changing huts until 1954. They were then kept in storage and later offered for public sale as mementos of a bygone bathing era. Aberdeen Sea Beach
51 The Promenade at Aberdeen Sea Beach, c. 1950 with the Beach Shelter and Beach Bathing Station in the background. Beach Bathing Station
99 The interior of the Beach Bathing Station, where generations of Aberdonians learnt to swim in the fresh water pool. The Bathing Station was designed by City Architect, John Rust, and opened on 13th July 1898. A distinctive red brick chimney dominated the beach skyline. The Bathing Station was eventually filled in and demolished, the door having finally closed to the public on 11th July 1972. Children paddling at the beach
263 Portrait of children paddling at the beach. Note the boy with a hoop, centre of photograph. The Pleasure Park, Aberdeen Beach
397 A postcard showing John Henry Iles' Pleasure Park in the 1930s. The park's esplanade site, south of Wellington Street (roughly where Amadeus nightclub/the Range and part of the Queen's Links carpark would later stand), was leased to Iles by the Council in 1929. Illes was an amusement entrepreneur originally from Manchester.
The park's biggest attraction, in all senses, was the Scenic Railway roller coaster shown here. Iles was involved in several amusement parks around Britain and during a visit to New York he obtained the European rights to the design of the latest roller coasters. He subsequently erected his Scenic Railway in Aberdeen in 1929.
The roller coaster rose to 100 feet in the air at its highest point and was popular with holiday makers and locals throughout the 1930s. The local press recorded 21,000 children, between 3 and 14 years of age, carried on the ride during a special children's day that was held on Saturday 20th August 1932.
Part of the message written on the back of this postcard by a young visitor to Aberdeen reads "This picture shows you the scenic railway which I have been on and liked very much".
The Scenic Railway was sadly badly damaged by fire on the night of 5th December 1940 and was consequently demolished. Other attractions of Iles' park included rides such as The Caterpillar, The Whip, Water Dodgems, and the Brooklyn Racers (petrol driven cars).
In the background of this image be seen the tower of St. Clements Church and a row of tenements, likely those on Wellington Street. A 'wagonette' travelling between Castle Street and the beach
429 A 'wagonette' travelled between Castle Street and the sea beach taking people down to enjoy the bracing sea air. Note the bare foot children in the foreground. The Pleasure Park
828 The Pleasure Park at Aberdeen Beach. The famous Scenic railway can be seen in the background.
In 1929 the Town Council leased John Henry Iles a piece of ground adjoining the sea front for use as an amusement park. The pleasure park was located on the esplanade south of Wellington Road.
Iles' park included rides such as The Caterpillar, The Whip, Water Dodgems, and the Brooklyn Racers (petrol driven cars).
The greatest innovation, however, was the scenic railway which rose to 100 feet in the air at its highest point.
The local press recorded 21,000 children, between 3 and 14 years of age, carried on the ride on the "Kiddies Day" that was held on Saturday 20th August 1932.
The ride was popular throughout the 1930s. It was badly damaged by fire on the night of 5th December 1940 and was subsequently destroyed.
Note the tower of St. Clements Church and the row of tenements, likely those on Wellington Street, in the background. Children paddling at Aberdeen Beach
836 Children paddling at Aberdeen Beach, with sailing boats in the background.
Sandilands: aerial photograph
850 An aerial view of Sandilands Chemical Works looking east towards the sea. This image likely dates from around the mid-20th century.
Some of the houses on Garvock Wynd, the street on the right of this image, have disappeared compared to earlier aerial views. The next street along to the left, with "the Big Hoose" on its corner, is Baltic Street. Miller Street runs along the bottom of the image.
These chemical works began in 1848 when brothers John and George Miller of Paisley leased the land adjacent to gas works that had opened in 1844. Their intention was to process the by-products of coal gas manufacture. The business operated as John Miller & Company, known locally as "stinky Miller's", and went on to manufacture a range of products for North East agriculture.
An obituary for John Miller can be found in the Aberdeen Free Press of 6th March 1894, page 4. An obituary for George Miller featured on page 4 of the Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 11th September 1889.
In around 1928, Miller & Co. became part of Scottish Agricultural Industries (SAI). In the 1930s, the first SAI manager, Mr. Bremner, was appointed and this marked the beginning of the end of the Miller era.
SAI was formed in 1928, part of ICI agricultural division (ICI owned 51%), by combining firms such as J. Miller & Co. in Aberdeen, Milne in Dyce and firms in Carnoustie, Ayr, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Beyond the chemical works can be seen Queen's Links and the Pleasure Beach across Wellington Street. The esplanade and North Sea are visible beyond. Sea Beach Tram
871 Photograph of a tram going to the Sea Beach. Correspondent Dr Mike Mitchell comments that tram 67 was built in Dee Village workshops - then the main tramcar works - in 1919 as an unemployment relief measure. The construction used parts from an ex-horse car conversion of the same number. It was delivered in December 1919 and ran until 1953/54. Portrait of sporting young man in white flannels standing in front of a bathing machine.
1648 Correspondent Ed Fowler has been in touch with the following information concerning this image:
"Bathing Machines were temporary changing rooms that were wheeled down to the beach strand. They allowed sea swimmers a ready facility of changing into bathing costumes or out of wet costumes after swimming in the sea.
The facility was spartan - just 2 bench seats - wet and dry sides perhaps and a small round vanity mirror at head level.
They were soon outmoded and removed from the beach and stored behind the Banner Mill for 1940's children, such as the writer, to explore and vandalise.
The well-built gentleman in this photograph was likely a self-appointed lifeguard of the era and maybe Scotland's champion swimmer and diver - Aberdeen's Mr Willie 'Moosie' Sutherland.
He was famed for his rescue successes at Aberdeen Beach, Walkers Dam and the River Dee and was an active member of the Dee Swimming Club and Bon Accord Club since 1865.
'Moosie' saved well over 100 Lives and was given a recognition of Rescue service award by Lord Provost Leslie in 1871 at the age of 27 years.
He died aged 42 on the 20th September 1886 his last competitive race was the first ever Dee to Don Estuaries swim in the same year." Five men sit in an early motor bus
1663 This image shows an early motor bus, seated for about 7. Note the handrails for boarding at the back, and the two bench seats. The bus is a Renault. This kind of vehicle would have been used to convey guests between a hotel and a railway station, or to Aberdeen Sea Beach from Market Street.
(Many thanks to Dr Mike Mitchell for this information.) F. G. Main farm portrait
3354 A portrait by photographer F. G. Main of a young man and his horses at an Aberdeenshire farm. This was one of three photographs lent to Aberdeen City Libraries by Mr William Finney of Banchory so that we could create and preserve a digital copy for public use. These three photographs were kept by Mr Finney's family and he hopes to find out more about the people shown in them. If you can shed any light on these images please get in touch using the comment button on the left. Mr Finney was born in Turriff and the images likely relate to that area of Aberdeenshire.
Mr Finney believes the figure in the middle of this image may have been called Stephen Lorimer. This is uncertain however, as is any detail of the location shown. The image may relate to a local ploughing competition or event of this nature.
The figure in the background on the right of the image looks a lot like one of the five workers from Pitglassie shown in another of Mr Finney's images. This strongly suggests this image too is taken at, or connected to, the area and farms of Pitglassie in the Parish of Auchterless.
F. G. Main was an Aberdeen based photographer. Searches in old newspapers do not reveal a great deal about his career, however. As indicated on this card, he had premises in the New Market in Aberdeen town centre. Post office directories suggest this was numbers 39 and 40 in the gallery of the New Market.
Main also appears to have been active as the Electric Studio at 66 St. Nicholas Street. Additionally, searches indicate he operated studios at Aberdeen Sea Beach and at 47 Wellgate in Dundee. Richard D. Torrance in his Photographers in North-Eastern Scotland to 1914 (2001) has entries for both a F. G. Main and a Frank Main. These are likely one and the same photographer.
A newspaper notice for the birth of a son in 1914 indicates that F. G. Main lived at 245 Great Western Road at one time. We can find no obituary for the photographer. A cursory search of statutory records reveals that a Frank G. Main died in Aberdeen aged 65 in 1946. This may be the photographer in question. Aberdeen Cinemas: Star Picture Palace
3409 A photograph of the Star Picture Palace at the junction of Park Street and South Constitution Street in the 1920s. The cinema was an undertaking of Bert Hedgley Gates in partnership with his wife Nellie and with financial backing from local businessmen. Bert Gates was among Aberdeen's most influential cinema proprietors. He would go on to be the founding managing director of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, a highly successful company that would play a key role in cinema exhibition in the city.
The ever useful Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson details much of the history of the Star Picture Palace, known as The Star or Starrie, and the activities of Bert Gates. The cinema was converted from the former premises of the Aberdeen East End Mission. Its name was thought to come from a red-stained glass window in the shape of a star that was a legacy of its previous use. The Star's auditorium stood on the south side of South Constitution Street and its entrance, as shown here, was at 23 Park Street, underneath a block of tenements.
The cinema opened in March 1911 and showed a mixture of films and music. Bert and Nellie would stand behind the screen and add dialogue, sound effects and commentary to the silent films being shown. They also added topical references and allusions to well-known local figures. Both had backgrounds as stage artistes and their performances became a popular feature of the Star.
In 1913 the successful cinema was expanded, doubling its capacity, as Aberdeen Picture Palaces acquired the building and some houses to its rear. Thomson states that the remodelled Star was advertised as "Absolutely the Finest and Most Handsome Interior Out of Glasgow".
The Star had direct competition when the Casino cinema opened just around the corner on the north side of Wales Street on 7th February 1916. Thomson suggests that Gates responded to the Casino's popular and innovative cine-variety performances by programming his own varieties and mini revues. These included Miss Madge Belmont, "America's Handcuff Queen" and Birteno's Golden Grotto, "the most gorgeous electrical dance spectacle ever seen in Aberdeen - a display of serpentine and fire dancing by Belle Lumière, with marvellous kaleidoscopic colour effects".
The Star Picture Palace showed its first talkie, King of the Khyber Rifles, on 13th October 1930. In November 1932 the cinema suffered a fire caused by a dropped cigarette. The damage was relatively minor however and only put the Star out of action for a fortnight.
By the beginning of the second world war, the area around the Star was becoming depopulated as housing on Hanover Street and Albion Street was demolished to make way for the new Beach Boulevard. Bert Gates acquired control of the Casino in November 1939 with the idea of combining it with the Star to create one super-cinema that fronted onto the new thoroughfare.
Thomson explains that business was concentrated on the Casino and later that month the Star closed as a cinema for good. In 1939/40 it served as an indoor fun-fair and as the Boulevard Ballroom for the remainder of the war. The Star building was demolished, at the same time as the Casino, in 1971 to make way for a housing development.
Michael Thomson addresses the use of jam-jars for cinema admission in the first appendix to Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988). This includes an account of the Star Picture Palace from Ethel Kilgour who remembered going there as a child. Her description concludes as follows: "It was a great little cinema, jam-jar entry fee and all, and it was a form of escapism for so many children in a world so depressed between the wars".
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Aberdeen Beach
4194 A photograph showing people enjoying Aberdeen Beach on a sunny day. A group of mostly adults are sat in deckchairs in the foreground while children play by the water behind.
This image likely dates from the 1970s. It comes from a collection of slides donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Aberdeen City Council's publicity department. Aberdeen Beach
4195 A photograph showing a group of children enjoying the playground at Aberdeen Beach. Broad Hill can be seen in the background.
This playground was opened in June 1962 just north of the Beach Ballroom. It was described as "imaginative in design and practicable for providing maximum freedom". It was built in a horse shoe shape to resemble a miniature fishing village with swings, water chute, roundabout and paddling pool. There were also climbing nets, ropes and poles.
The playground was moved to a new site across Links Road at the Queen's Links in 1987 to make way for the new leisure centre.
This image likely dates from the 1970s. It comes from a collection of slides donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Aberdeen City Council's publicity department. Aberdeen Beach
4197 A photograph showing children playing on Aberdeen Beach on a sunny day. A small yacht can be seen on the water and Girdleness Lighthouse, and the south breakwater, is in the distance on the right.
This image likely dates from the 1970s. It comes from a collection of slides donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Aberdeen City Council's publicity department. Aberdeen Beach
4203 A photograph showing a sizable crowd sitting on the grass watching a gig by local band The Bash Street Kids.
The concert appears to be taking place in front of the tennis courts on the Queen's Links recreational grounds. This was to the south, across Links Road, from the Beach Ballroom. This space would later be the site of the children's playground moved in 1987 to make way for the new leisure centre.
Aberdeen and North-East Bands Through the Decades (2021) by Hugh Falconer states that the Bash Street Kids, known as "The Bashers", started performing in 1978. Inspired by The Beano's cartoon characters and AC/DC, their frontman, Brian Crombie, often wore a cap and shorts. The band has continued to perform for over 40 years.
This image likely dates from the 1970s. It comes from a collection of slides donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Aberdeen City Council's publicity department. Johnston Gardens
4331 A D. & S. K. "Ideal Series" postcard image, from their Davidson's Colourised Series, showing Johnston Gardens in the Airyhall area of Aberdeen.
This photograph shows the rustic bridge that spans the pond in the centre of the gardens.
The park used to belong to the Johnston House estate but was gifted to the city in 1936. This beautiful landscaped garden boasts streams, ponds, waterfalls, rockeries and the picturesque bridge seen here. There is also a children's play area and toilet facilities.
The park comes alive in the spring and summer as rhododendrons, spring bulbs, heathers and alpines blossom. The ponds are full of irises and aquatic plants with visiting mallard ducks and breeding moor hens.
Within the Gardens sits a memorial which commemorates the 16 men sadly lost in the Super Puma helicopter crash in the North Sea on 1st April 2009. The flight was returning from BP's Miller platform and crashed 11 nautical miles north east of Peterhead. Johnston Gardens
4332 A Belmont Series postcard image showing a number of people enjoying the Johnston Gardens in the Airyhall area of Aberdeen.
The park used to belong to the Johnston House estate but was gifted to the city in 1936. This beautiful landscaped garden boasts streams, ponds, waterfalls, rockeries and a picturesque bridge. There is also a children's play area and toilet facilities.
The park comes alive in the spring and summer as rhododendrons, spring bulbs, heathers and alpines blossom. The ponds are full of irises and aquatic plants with visiting mallard ducks and breeding moor hens.
Within the Gardens sits a memorial which commemorates the 16 men sadly lost in the Super Puma helicopter crash in the North Sea on 1st April 2009. The flight was returning from BP's Miller platform and crashed 11 nautical miles north east of Peterhead. Treasures 5: The Aberdeen Bon-Accord and Northern Pictorial Holidays Numbers
174 This Art Deco style cover from 1935 features a series of photographs depicting boating by the sea, the busy beach promenade and walking in the nearby hills. The lower half of the design is given over to details of the public transport available to holidaymakers with silhouettes of a tram and bus.
Come and visit our 125 Treasure exhibition in the Central Library during July 2015 to take a closer look at the full bound volumes of these remarkable newspapers. Treasure 44: Historic Children's Literature Collection
213 This month we feature beautifully illustrated children's literature from our historic collections to mark World Book Day on 3 March 2016.
World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and - most importantly - it is a celebration of reading. It is designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world. The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.
Little Ann and Other Poems illustrated by Kate Greenaway is a first edition, published by George Routledge & Sons c. 1883. It contains 42 poems all illustrated in her charming style of dainty children dressed in typical Greenaway costume.
Catherine "Kate" Greenaway (17 March 1846 - 6 November 1901) was an English artist and children's book illustrator
Online resources Britannica Encyclopaedia provides a brief biography of Kate Greenaway:
"The daughter of John Greenaway, a draftsman and wood engraver, Kate Greenaway grew up in various residences, including a farmhouse in Nottinghamshire, and studied art in various places, including London. She began to exhibit drawings in 1868, and her first published illustrations appeared in such magazines as Little Folks. In 1879 she produced her first successful book, Under the Window, followed by The Birthday Book (1880), Mother Goose (1881), Little Ann (1883), and other books for children, which had an enormous success and became very highly valued".
Greenaway's work was praised by John Ruskin, a dear friend who said "her drawings are blissful just in the degree that they are natural; the fairyland that she creates for you is not beyond the sky nor beneath the sea but near to you, even at your doors. She does but show you how to see it and how to cherish".
In our collections we also hold a copy of 'Kate Greenaway Pictures: from originals presented by her to John Ruskin and other personal friends' from 1921.
"In 1890 Greenaway was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and in 1891, 1894, and 1898 she exhibited watercolour drawings, including illustrations for her books, at the gallery of the Fine Art Society (by which a representative selection was exhibited in 1902). From 1883 to 1897, with a break only in 1896, she issued a series of Kate Greenaway's Almanacs."
The Kate Greenaway Medal, established in her honour in 1955, is awarded annually by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK to an illustrator of children's books.
Treasure 62: City of Aberdeen Links and Sea Beach Layout Plan showing Proposed Development (August 1923)
238 In its heyday Aberdeen attracted visitors from all over the UK and established itself as one of Britain's leading holiday resorts. This is the Links and Sea Beach Development Plan of 1923 which ultimately led to the transformation of Aberdeen into a first class holiday resort.
In September 1919, Aberdeen Town Council took the decision to develop and improve Aberdeen Beach with the construction of a large entertainments building comprising a concert hall, restaurant, dining room, dance hall and lounge, beach pavilion and two shopping arcades.
Messrs. Roberts and Hume of Bathgate were chosen to design the proposed scheme in 1926, at an estimated cost of £42,717. The final design incorporated all requested features excluding the shopping arcades, but the dance hall - known now as Aberdeen Beach Ballroom - became one of the finest dance halls in Scotland. Festival of Britain - Poster
462 A large decorative poster for Festival of Britain celebrations that took place in Aberdeen in 1951.
The poster has a theatre influenced design and lists the planned events between 29th July and 11th August.
The celebrations were organised by the Aberdeen Festival Society and the Corporation of Aberdeen in association with the Arts Council Scottish Committee.
Events included a church service, exhibitions of art and of crafts, theatre performances, concerts, and sporting competitions. Among the groups involved were the Arion Choir Ensemble, the Children's Theatre and the Band of Royal Corps Signals.
Events took place at venues around Aberdeen including Cowdray Hall, the Music Hall, King's College Library, Gaumont Gallery, the News Cinema and many more.
The bottom right of the poster indicates that it was designed by noted British illustrator and graphic artist Eric George Fraser (1902-1983) and was printed for H.M. Stationary Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd., London.
The poster is approximately 77 x 51 cm. |