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Bay of Nigg - a popular area for a summer picnic.

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The dinner hour, workers crossing the bridge over the River Don. The history of the mills in Woodside has gone through prosperous and bad times with several being closed in the mid-1800s and subsequently reopened towards the end of the century. The success especially of the paper and cloth mills of the area has provided work for many generations of Woodsiders. A linen and cloth factory moved to the Grandholme mills site in mid-18th century from Gordon Mills and was taken over by James and John Crombie in 1859. J&J Crombie went on to produce the famous worldwide Crombie cloth at the Grandholme Mill, leading to the long association between Woodside and the fabric. The mill at one point employed up to 3000 people. J&J Crombie were included on a list of government suppliers and one tenth of all coats worn by British officers of the First World War were made with the Crombie cloth. By World War II 467 miles of the cloth was being produced at the Grandholme mill per year. By 1960 Grandholm was the largest supplier of tweed in the UK and also produced silk, wool, cashmere and yarns. Sadly the business has now been moved away from the Woodside area to the Borders. The bridge shown in this photograph is the old wooden bridge that was known locally as the "White Bridge". It was built by the firm of Leys, Masson and Company in 1810 to improve access to its Granholm Works. It was replaced in 1922 by the present steel structure, built by the Motherwell Bridge Company.

2192

A postcard image, likely from the early 20th century, looking east across the northernmost section of Duthie Park's Upper Lake, towards the bandstand. As can be seen on old large scale Ordnance Survey maps, the northern section of the lake was originally lobed shape as visible here. It was made more cohesively rounded at some point in the mid-20th century. This part of the Upper Lake has traditionally been used for pedalos.

3012

An image from a postcard showing Burnbanks, a small coastal settlement near Cove, on 11th May 1921. A group of children are sitting around with houses in the background. Local historian Joe McLeod informs us that this photograph shows the Beattie family, who lived in Burnbanks. The child on the right is Frederick Beattie. He died in WW2 from wounds received fighting in the Middle East. He was 29 years old and left a widow and a son. The young girl in the middle of the group on the right is Jean Ingram. An article concerning her memories of Burnbanks features in the Evening Express of 25/02/1991, p. 4. This article was published after plans were announced for the restoration of the village's remaining 10 cottages. These had been in a semi-derelict state since the last resident left in the early 1970s. The development was a collaboration between Scotia Homes of Ellon and the North-East Scotland Preservation Trust. The project, which also saw the construction of 12 new cottages, was concluded with an official opening ceremony on 07/11/1991, to which past residents of the village were invited (Press & Journal, 05/11/1991, p. 3). Prior to their redevelopment, from the 1970s onwards, the cottages had been used as stores for Aberdeen City District Council and possibly also as a small agricultural museum.

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