Thursday 20th January 2011 Whiskies to help pay for salmon conservation
After a successful trail last year, new whiskeys are being launched by
fishery managers on four Scottish rivers to help pay for salmon
conservation schemes. Last year a trial batch of Dee Dram in
Aberdeenshire raised £35,000 and has now been made a permanent whisky.
Similar drams are now being created for the Spey, Tay and Tweed. The
whiskies are being produced by The Dalmore Distillery, in Alness,
Ross-shire, and are expected to sell for about £40 a bottle. Managers
at the Dee Salmon Fisheries Board said many miles of tributaries need
to be unblocked, and the money being raised will help. Work has
already started including removing dams and obstructions. Grampian

Tuesday 28th December 2010 Aberdeenshire is the “best place to live” in Scotland
Aberdeenshire has offers the best quality of life in Scotland
according to the annual Bank of Scotland study. It’s the second year
running the region has taken the title. Aberdeenshire came out ahead
of Shetland, East Dunbartonshire and East Lothian in the study which
ranks areas according to health and life expectancy, employment,
school performance and climate. The other areas in the top 10 were
East Renfrewshire, Orkney, Moray, Midlothian, Aberdeen and the
Borders. Grampian

Thursday 14th October 2010 Greater Manchester Police to tweet their work for 24 hours
Greater Manchester Police, one of England's biggest police forces,
will be tweeting every incident it deals with over the next 24 hours
(14 October 2010). Chief Constable Peter Fahy hopes the project will
give an insight into the workload officers face. The Chief Constable
hoped it would also give politicians an idea of the kind of incidents
"not recognised in league tables and measurements". Officers will be
posting updates on three GMP twitter feeds until 0500 BST on Friday,
15 October. "Policing is often seen in very simple terms, with cops
chasing robbers and locking them up," said Mr Fahy. "However, the
reality is that this accounts for only part of the work they have to
deal with.” Grampian

Thursday 10th June 2010 RAF plane strikes deer on landing
A cargo plane narrowly avoided catastrophe after striking deer as it
came in to land at RAF Kinloss. Air accident investigators from the
Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have revealed details of the
incident at the Moray air base involved a SAAB-Scania cargo plane with
two crew on board on 8 October 2008. The pilot saw two deer run in
front of the aircraft and braked on the runway. The plane to veered
and one of the animals to hit the propeller, damaging it and the
fuselage. None of the crew were injured. Grampian

Monday 3rd May 2010 Parking charges introduced at exhibition centre
The Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre has started charging for
parking in an attempt to make the AECC £100,000 a year. The parking
charges came into force for concerts and major events at £4 for cars
and £9 for coaches. The exhibition centre is in debt and owes millions
of pounds to Aberdeen City Council. Despite the financial shortfall
and the cost of that to the local taxpayer, the local community
council are concerned by the introduction of parking charges. They are
worried that cars may avoid the charges by parking in nearby streets.

The AECC claimed they had little choice in the face of their situation
but to bring in the charges. Grampian

Monday 26th April 2010 Aberdeen bypass faces two-year legal delay
Plans to build a new Aberdeen bypass look likely held up because of a
legal challenge. Transport Scotland, the agency responsible for the
road, have warned that a Court of Session action could lead to a delay
of up to two years.

Campaign group Road Sense said it had instructed lawyers to begin
action against the Scottish government's decision to give the go-ahead
to the bypass after a long-running public local inquiry in 2008.

The road is being mooted to provide a fast link between towns to the
north, west and south of Aberdeen. The Scottish government asked for a
public local inquiry because of the public response. Opponents have
expressed doubts it can still be completed for the earlier estimated
cost of £395m, and are worried about the environmental impact of the
28-mile scheme. Grampian

Friday 29th January 2010 Exhibition of historic images of Aberdeen Blitz
35 historic pictures showing the devastation caused by Luftwaffe
bombing raid on Aberdeen are being exhibited. The dramatic images show
the extent of the destruction after 125 people died in a raid on the
city in 1943. The photographs come from the Grampian Police archive
and have never been exhibited before. They will go on display at the
Deemouth Business Centre, South Esplanade East, from Saturday 30
January until Sunday 14 February.

Grampian Police curator Fiona-Jane Brown said: "The images show, quite
graphically, the shocking levels of devastation inflicted on Aberdeen
during the second World War. 129 bombs fell on the city that day,
which resulted in the deaths of 98 civilians and 27 servicemen and
caused damage and destruction of the scale which has never been seen
since. The images had been long forgotten about for decades in the
police archive. When we came across them we knew they would be of
interest not just to those who remember the war, but to art, history
and architecture students, school pupils, heritage groups and anyone
else with an interest in the city's history." Grampian

Thursday 21st January 2010 Aberdeen’s granite quarry for sale
The quarry that gave Aberdeen its ‘granite city’ nickname is up for
sale for the first time in 150 years. Rubislaw Quarry closed in 1971
after supplying the city and the world with granite since 1740. It is
believed to be the biggest man-made hole in Europe.

City chartered surveyors AB Robb are marketing the sale and managing
director Alex Robb said: "This is definitely one of the most unusual
sites we have been instructed to sell. It is well known throughout the
city but very few people by comparison will have seen it. Ideas
mentioned so far have included draining it to create some kind of
leisure destination in the quarry area, possibly a climbing facility,
or even keeping it filled with water and using it for water sports
such as recreational diving.'' Grampian

Friday 18th December 2009 Nippy Dippers to brave the North Sea for charity
The Nippy Dipper event is an annual swim in the North Sea at Aberdeen
that raises thousands of pounds for charity. The swim will take place
once again this year, on Boxing Day, with dozens of swimmers braving
the freezing winter waters.

The dip is organised by Aberdeen Lions who encourage swimmers to do
the dip in fancy dress to inject an extra bit of fun into proceedings.
Swimmers raise funds for a charity of their choice or the Lions Club's
designated charity - the Lord Provost's Charitable Trust. Anyone
wanting to take part in the 1030 GMT Boxing Day event at Aberdeen's
beachfront can make contact via aberdeenlions@hotmail.co.uk Grampian

Wednesday 18th November 2009 Dog strolls away from 65ft cliff fall
A German Shepherd got things off to a bad start on his first walk with
new owners when he tumbled 65ft off cliffs and into the sea. Five-year
old Twinnie ran backwards over the cliff edge at Portlethen in
Aberdeenshire but missed the rocks below, landed in the sea and
managed to doggie paddle to the shore.

His owners Andy and Joanna Finley, who had just collected their new
pet and had stopped for walkies on the way home, called out the
coastguard who collected Twinnie from the shoreline. Mr Finlay, 39
commented on the dog’s lucky escape afterwards: "Luckily he seemed to
go straight into the water rather than hitting rocks." Grampian