Woodside Rebranded? What a lot of nonsense! How can an area be rebranded? What’s the point of ‘rebranding’ anyway? You can put a fancy new label on a tin of beans, but it still contains the same beans. Everyone in Aberdeen knows where and what Woodside is, and no amount of window dressing can change it. Woodside is Woodside.

The basic idea first came about when I attended a housing conference. A delegate from West Belfast presented a talk dealing not with the problems of the city, but the image that it had. They produced a brochure presenting the positives of living in Belfast. I thought something similar could be useful here in Woodside, which also has a negative image.

The purpose of this publication is to show that this image is unjustified and that Woodside has a lot going for it. We came up with several titles, but our working title Woodside Rebranded stuck. The idea of rebranding can be a bit dubious, but then again, maybe the beans are a lot better than they make out.

Rebranded?

Woodside Clock Tower

Woodside lies about two miles from Aberdeen city centre, and like other older parts of the city is primarily granite built. It was once an independent town, but with the rapid expansion of Aberdeen, it changed from being on the city’s periphery to its geographic heart.

Woodside is bisected by Great Northern Road and the railway, which both head towards Inverness via the major towns to the north and west in rural Aberdeenshire. With the growth of Aberdeen, the ‘borders’ of Woodside have become indistinct, with completely different political, educational catchment and city planning boundaries. Adding to the confusion is the extensive new build of the mid-twentieth century around Woodside. For example, Stewart Park was provided for the use of Woodside’s citizens more than a hundred years ago. Today, the park is regarded as part of Hilton.

Woodside stretches from St. Machar to Haudigaun roundabout, and from the river Don to Clifton Road, although both Kittybrewster and Persley Den are often thought as de facto Woodside. Woodside has a population of around 4,500. For such a relatively small area, it has a surprisingly wide demographic.

Woodside Primary School

History

The story of Woodside goes back a long way. First mentioned in the annals in the early eighteenth century, Woodside was originally a cluster of farm ‘touns’ close to the banks of the river Don.

Woodside grew from a small hamlet into an independent township until finally being incorporated into an expanding Aberdeen City in the late nineteenth century. During the Industrial Revolution, Woodside became a powerhouse of the North East economy, with the mill at Grandholm (which produced the world famous Crombie cloth) the main employer. Other industries were paper mills and quarries.

Kittybrewster School

Dinner hour at Grandholm, 1900

Workman at Persley Quarry

Persley Den

Communications also played a large part in the development of Woodside. Because of its geographical location, the town became the hub of a network of roads, canals and railways. Woodside is bisected by both Great Northern Road and the railway line, both of which lead to Inverness via the major towns to the north and west. Traces of the famous canal - which took agricultural produce from the rich farmlands of Aberdeenshire to the booming port of Aberdeen - can still be seen. Street names such as Canal Street and Station Road still point to this aspect of Woodside’s history.

In recent years we have witnessed the disappearance of these traditional industries. In some ways, Woodside itself has reflected this decline, with relatively high unemployment and its fair share of current social problems. Yet there are many new projects either completed or at the planning stage. Woodside still retains its independent and vibrant spirit, and the main reason for optimism is its people.

Churches of Woodside

Two hundred years ago Woodside was just coming into being as a village as people moved into the area to work at the mills. At first, Church of Scotland members had to walk all the way to the parish church at Oldmachar. By 1830 Woodside had enough inhabitants for a ‘chapel of ease’ to be built (to make it easier for them to get to service). This church can still be seen on the corner of Church Street and Queen Street and has been converted into flats.

In 1843 there was a huge dispute in the church throughout Scotland. The existing church building (with most of its people) became a Free church. A new Church of Scotland had to be built in the late 1840s, and this is the present Woodside Parish Church. Both of these churches were built by the famous Aberdeen architect Archibald Simpson. He designed the clock tower which can be seen from all over Woodside. It was not until 1867 that members could afford to buy a bell for the tower, and this is the one you can hear welcoming people to church every Sunday morning.

Finlay McKichan Woodside Parish Church

Painting of Woodside Parish Church St Joseph’s Catholic Church

Fountain Hall Evangelical Church

Congregational Church

Sir John Anderson Library

Woodside boasts many grand buildings and one of the finest is Woodside Library on Clifton Road. The library was built and gifted to local people by Sir John Anderson, Woodside’s answer to Andrew Carnegie.

The son of an Overseer in Woodside Works, Sir John was born in 1814 and went on to make his fortune in munitions during the Crimean war. In later years he decided to endow his birthplace with educational facilities. The splendid Anderson Library was the result.

First opened in 1881 and improved by the City in the 1930s, the library has a wide range of materials, with a particularly strong local history section. It is a pleasant space to study and relax. With the expansion of Aberdeen the library now serves the residents of Hilton and Middlefield as well as Woodside.

Aberdeen City is currently reviewing library provision, and Woodside Library is facing possible closure as a facility open to the public. In 1883 Sir John Anderson purchased the land and gifted it to the people of Woodside so that, ‘...ruthless hands may be prevented someday trying to upset my good intentions.’

Many local people hope that, some 130 years later, his fears will not be realised.

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Woodside Primary School

It’s commonly said ‘location is everything’. Well, if there is one thing that Woodside has going for it, its location. Modern living offers two alternatives, the conveniences of the city, and the quality of life advantages offered by the countryside. Rarely do these contrasts exist in one and the same place. If they do, it is usually in an area on a city’s outskirts, never in a city centre. Woodside can boast access to both modern facilities and natural resources unrivalled by any inner city area in Britain. This is no idle boast, as a simple list will illustrate:

On our doorstep Two primary schools and one secondary school An excellent local librarySeveral hundred acres of playing fieldsMiles of riverside walksA community media centre A regenerated Community Centre & Customer Access PointTwo Community Projects Several play areas for childrenChurches of several denominations

Within a ten minute walkThree public parks Aberdeen University Two large supermarkets A botanic gardenZoological museum

Within a thirty minute walk The city centreMiles of beaches Two nature reserves A golf courseTwo leisure centres A major hospital

Location

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The River Don

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Woodside Parish Church

Woodside Library

In contrast to its gentrified country cousin the river Dee, the Don is an industrialized river and many remnants of this heritage can be found along its banks. However, the pollution from its many mills and quarries led to the environmental degradation of the river, and by the 1950’s its waters were biologically dead.

Although the decline in traditional industries has not been beneficial to local employment, the resulting improvement of water quality has lead to the rejuvenation of the river itself. It is wonderful to see the return of wildlife to the river and its surrounding woodland.

The salmon and trout have returned. Deer, seals and herons are a common sight. You may even catch a glimpse of an otter or a bird of prey. The annual return of the swallows around the Persley bridge are a sight to behold.

A walk along its meandering banks is now a positive pleasure. Donside now boasts two nature reserves and some stretches can almost be classed as wilderness. The River Don is now one of the advantages of living in Woodside.

The River Don

People

“Another stance for travelling shows was at Haudigain. It was there I saw my first cinematic show about1909. On a field directly opposite this showground was a pavilion where minstrel troupes and concert parties performed. It was also used as a pitch where the football team played. There was a wall straight across where Anderson Drive ends, with a small space in it where you paid admission to the ground. At one time this field belonged to the Haudigain Inn, and roller-skating, penny farthing cycle racing and children’s shows also took place.”

Andrew McKessock, Woodside Ways

Woodside has always been an area of contrasts. A visitor taking a walk around the area will see all the layers of Woodside’s history, with the grand old houses of the ‘well to do’ side by side pre-war housing estates or classical architecture by Aberdeen’s own Archibald Simpson alongside less-celebrated modern designs.

The people are also a bit of a social mix. This is a reflection of Woodside’s fragmented history. Originally a cluster of houses and taverns amid working farms on the main route North, rich burghers were attracted to the area as the city expanded. Waves of immigration down the years have also added to the pot. The Nineteenth Century saw the arrival of migrants from the Scottish Highlands and Ireland in search of work in the new paper and cloth mills.

In the twenties and thirties, slum clearance in central Aberdeen saw the construction of much of the city’s characteristic granite social housing in Fersands and Printfield. During the sixties new blocks were constructed along Great Northern Road which now contain a high proportion elderly people. In our own time, many East Europeans have come to the city for economic reasons and have found homes in Woodside.

While Woodside has its share of social problems, just like any other inner city area, its citizens are friendly and welcoming, and retain a strong sense of identity.

Woodside has a lack of space, and even small scale developments, such as recently installed recycling facilities, can be problematic. You would think, therefore, that changes would be limited, but they are coming, and they concern Woodside’s traditional raison etre: roads, bridges and transport.

Three main roads meet at the Haudagain roundabout, Aberdeen’s worst congestion black spot. There are plans to improve it with a new road going through a part of Middlefield. The proposed Third Don Crossing and the dualling of the road by Berryden will lead to yet more traffic heading towards Woodside. There are winners and losers in all large scale developments, and Woodside can only be the latter, although it may create much needed employment. There has also been talk of the opening of a Woodside railway station, a proposal greeted with enthusiasm locally, but this is very much a twinkle in the planner’s eye.

Future

On a positive note, there has been a massive investment in Woodside Community Centre, with the introduction of a Customer Access Point, a ‘one stop shop’, where most community facilities have been relocated. These include housing services, a mini market, the Credit Union and the new base for the long established Fersands and Fountain Community Project. Station House Media Unit takes Woodside’s communications tradition into the modern era, offering hands on experience in journalism, radio and video. Aberdeen University’s new library, a facility with public access, will also be within easy reach of Woodside. There has also been a steady investment in local housing and infrastructure, including plans to redevelop Woodside’s major eyesore, the underpass leading to Tillydrone.

The future is, as always, uncertain. Despite all the changes down the years, Woodside has retained its strong sense of identity and a strong community spirit. It will always be wonderfully situated, set within an unrivalled natural environment. All in all, Woodside remains a great place to live and work.

Station House Media Unit

Aberdeen University’s new Library

Woodside Community CentreNew underpass leading to Tillydrone

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