Financial trouble at The Gaudie: Fundraising appeal launched
It emerged earlier today that The Gaudie, the University of Aberdeen student newspaper, was in financial trouble. The team has launched a funding appeal to strengthen its position as it approaches its 90th year.
Known for its student-centric reporting since 1934, The Gaudie publishes a print edition every two weeks during term time. We hold immense admiration for the paper, recognising its vital role in the fabric of our city. It serves as a catalyst for nurturing young writers and fostering the development of future journalists.
A vital role in the fabric of Aberdeen
At POST, we regularly share their articles to a broader audience through our social media channels. Their voice is as important as any other local publication. But they have faced the same funding issues as many other people and organisations in the city. To maintain Scotland's longest-standing independent student newspaper, we're asking you, if you are able, to donate to their Go Fund Me page.
As The Gaudie enters its 90th year of publication in 2024, its dedication remains resolute. The paper is an essential platform within the University of Aberdeen and beyond. So...we'll hand the reins over to Editor in Chief Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco, to directly appeal to you.
An appeal from The Gaudie
If you went to the University of Aberdeen, you've probably heard of us. As one student once told me, The Gaudie 'gets all the tea'- (older readers, do not be alarmed, that's modern parlance for being good journalists).
Since 1934, we've been standing for quality and independent journalism while focusing on issues people care about- as Scotland's oldest independent student newspaper.
Just this year, we've brought you in-depth reporting on community campaigns to reverse funding cuts by Aberdeen City Council, as well as a bevy of film reviews, election coverage, and investigative journalism.
This excellent coverage can be found in the print edition of our newspaper, released every two weeks during the academic term, as well as online on our website.
Ninety years ago, we charged one penny to buy a copy of the newspaper. Today, all of our content is offered free of charge—without paywalls, subscriptions, or pesky advertisements.
We need your help
So why am I writing this article? Well, simply put, we have identified a significant funding shortfall for the upcoming academic year.
Due to this, we only have enough funds to pay for two editions of the paper this autumn (rather than our normal four). Any editions published in the spring will be dependent on funding grants, which are not guaranteed.
As we celebrate our 90th year of publishing in 2024, we continue to be committed to the ideals of independence, integrity, and creativity which have characterised our work since its conception.
But we need your help. The paper will not be able to survive at its current capacity without the necessary funding.
If you would like to join us in the campaign to ensure The Gaudie can continue for another ninety years, we'd invite you to consider donating to our Go Fund Me or emailing us at editor@thegaudie.com with any funding ideas or suggestions.
Thank you, from all of us at The Gaudie.
Aberdeen high-rise buildings | The selective regeneration of our city
We interviewed movie director Mark Stirton last month about his career and how he has coped with lockdown. Shortly after we published he told us that he had something important to share about Aberdeen high-rise buildings and asked if he could write for us on the subject.
While a number of Aberdeen high-rise buildings have been awarded category A listed status, their residents continue to suffer awful living conditions. Over to Mark.
The selective regeneration of Aberdeen by Mark Stirton
Someone sitting in an air conditioned office somewhere has decided that Aberdeen high-rise buildings like Virginia Court and Marischal Court are in some way historically important. Presumably whoever made this decision at Historic Environment Scotland has never actually been inside these buildings. Certainly they have never had to live in one. So, let’s take a closer look at these historically important buildings shall we?
First
Impressions
The first thing you’ll notice upon arriving in the area is that every single paving stone is broken. Not just one or two, all of them. So already, without actually entering the buildings, you can clearly see that this area has not been maintained in any meaningful way in quite some time.
But things get so much worse when we enter Virginia Court. Lift or stairs? Let’s try the lift first and as the door shudders to a close I notice that someone has scrawled something inside; ‘Please fix this door before an OAP gets stuck’. Sound advice and I immediately wonder if the doors will ever open again.
Fine, let’s take the stairs.
The steps leading up to the main stairwell are an immediate cause for concern. The problem is not that the banisters have been removed, which would not be so bad, it’s that the banisters have been partially removed. Nasty sharp metal struts have been left still in place and pointing outwards at exactly eye level for a toddler. Smart.
‘Please fix this door before an OAP gets stuck’. Sound advice …
Aberdeen High-Rise | The Flats
The stairwells themselves are pretty gruesome, with nasty big chunks of wall missing all over the place. But then, no one lives in the stairwells. It’s the flats that are the real eye opener here in this most important of buildings.
Where to start? Electrical wires hang out of the wall as if repaired by someone wearing a blindfold. Plaster is falling off the roof in big chunks. I can see cracks all over the place with massive gaps between floors and walls.
These gaps are more than just unsightly since they allow local insects to infest the lower flats. Without the addition of many rolls of flypaper to at least moderate the influx of midges, these rooms would not be considered fit for human habitation. Especially when you consider the rats.
Also problematic is the difficulty in heating a room that’s surrounded by walls that don’t reach the floor. Having said that, the storage heaters here have been imported from the 60s and would only heat you up if you sat on one.
This may explain why there is dry rot everywhere. One woman I spoke to, who was moving out, cited this exact reason for her moving; the health of her children was suffering just by being here. Is that a mushroom growing out of the floorboards? Yes, you can grow mushrooms here.
Yup, I saw rats. I didn’t hang around to photograph them, but I saw them.
Communal space or lack of privacy?
Anyway, let’s take our lives in our hands and try the balconies. Now maybe it’s beyond the understanding of a simple film director like myself to comprehend why rust and missing bolts everywhere is a perfectly safe way to leave a balcony, but to use your eyes and your common sense? I didn’t linger.
Another issue with the balconies is that of privacy. You see, everyone gets a balcony. What you might not realise from the outside is that most rooms have access to the same communal balcony, including the bedrooms. So if you fancy a neighbour standing directly outside your bedroom door at night, you’re in luck. It’s an appalling design. One that points towards another dirty little secret of these buildings – they were never any good to begin with! Presumably the original 1950’s based theory was to allow for a sense of community. You know, talking to a neighbour on the balcony while discussing the merits of teabags or some such. In the less cosy reality of 2021 however, it just means someone can come along and pee outside your bedroom door at 4 in the morning.
So if you fancy a neighbour standing directly outside your bedroom door at night, you’re in luck.
Not that communicating directly with your neighbours is that big a problem since the uninsulated walls here are paper thin. It’s quite possible to have a conversation with next door without raising your voice.
Aberdeen high-rise | Walkways
Speaking of disasters waiting to happen, let’s examine the two walkways that once connected Virginia Court and Marischal Court. These have not been in use for at least 3 decades. Again, maybe it’s beyond my humble understanding as to why leaving these walkways unmaintained and subject to the harsh winds and rain of Aberdeen for decades is in fact, perfectly safe and nothing to worry about. But I do worry.
There seems to be an insane innocence to all this, a sort of, it’ll never happen here, attitude.
But it might. Consider the aforementioned banister struts sticking out of the wall. No children have lost eyes, yet, so it must be safe to leave like that. They won’t take action, apparently, until after someone gets hurt.
When Historic Environment Scotland granted these Aberdeen high-rise buildings protected status, Aberdeen City Council protested in a kind of ‘Hey we were just about to fix that problem’ sort of way. But make no mistake, the problems in these buildings are entirely down to the borderline criminal negligence of Aberdeen City Council.
New Council HQ
Let’s take an interesting example from Aberdeen’s own recent historical past shall we? Not that long ago Aberdeen City Council decided that their HQ just wasn’t up to snuff. They needed somewhere new and my goodness didn’t that happen quickly!
The old building was gone in record time, a new home was found across the road. It was renovated, cleaned inside and out, new offices fitted and oh look, some fancy lights. In fact the whole area was regenerated in a remarkably short time. Aberdeen City Council can move pretty damn fast when it’s their own comfort at stake.
And what happened to Virginia and Marischal Court? Where people actually have to live, while all this frenzied rebuilding was going on 500 yards away? Well they were left to rot.
Putting aside the hideous living conditions of the poor souls stuck here to one side for a moment. Something Aberdeen City Council seems to have little difficulty in doing. People are telling us that these buildings are in some way culturally important; they’re not but let’s play the game. That means they’ve been letting these highly important buildings crumble away. So even if you take the human element out of this equation, there is still some world class negligence going on here.
Where’s the rush to action that Aberdeen City Council are apparently capable of, given the right self serving conditions?
An important building like Virginia Court falling into complete disrepair? Who do we call about that? If it’s so important, where’s the money?
The Human Element
Except of course, it’s impossible to take the human element out of this discussion, at least not without being a complete sociopath, because real people have to live in these buildings and they need help. Lifts that open, safe balconies, insulation, a heating solution from this century, an absence of midges and rats, a measure of privacy, fewer mushrooms, you know, the little things.
Unfortunately, since being designated as culturally significant, there is now a delay in any major repair work going on in this area. So people, who live in considerably nicer accommodation than is available in Marischal Court, can argue at great length and in comfort, about the relative merits of Brutalist design concepts.
But the truth is that these Aberdeen high-rise buildings were never any good, interesting architecture aside, and thanks to the inaction of Aberdeen City Council they’ve gone from bad to worse. Decades of simply looking the other way.
The people living in Virginia and Marischal Court need many things to be sure, but I can tell you what they don’t need, before some idiot turns up with a bucket of paint and a Council grant, they don’t need a mural.
Media Gallery
All photos owned by Mark Stirton.