Hundreds of visitors travelled to Torry Battery to raise cash for a future wildlife-spotting centre designed to show off Aberdeen’s famous dolphin population.
The Greyhope Bay Project is planning to open its new development at the historic battlement next year, and more than 700 people journeyed to the site on Greyhope Road to find out more about the plans at a family fun day.
The initial stage of the project aims to construct a glass-fronted viewing platform – utilising old shipping containers – to create a centre from where visitors can enjoy panoramic views of Aberdeen’s harbour and coastline, and catch sight of the local population of bottlenose dolphins.
Yesterday’s event, which ran from 1pm to 5pm, also celebrated the efforts of the project’s “skippers” – fundraisers from all across the north-east who have generated cash for the development through hosting bake sales, garden parties, and more.
One of the teams of “skippers” completed a sponsored bike ride yesterday, a 70-mile journey from Braemar to the Torry Battery.
Fiona McIntyre, managing director of the project, said: “Our cyclists arrived at just before 3pm, and they were pretty tired after coming all the way from Braemar.
“But once they arrived, they had a really warm welcome and got really excited to celebrate with us, especially because we had cake for them on arrival.
“We’ve had a treasure hunt, an art workshop, and a special skipper’s gallery where we displayed pictures of our fundraisers in one of the rooms of the Torry Battery.
“It’s been really amazing to show people exactly what it is we’re going to be building here and we’ve had all our plans on display showing what we’re going to do at the site.
“I think one of the things people have enjoyed the most is just sitting and taking in the amazing view the battery offers across the harbour and Aberdeen, it really is beautiful.”
She added: “We’ve been raising a lot of money through today’s event and the amazing efforts of our skippers, and although we haven’t got a grand total yet, we’ll be hopefully counting it all up and revealing how much we’ve raised at some point this week.”
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