The skirl of the pipes welcomed the long-awaited return of an Aberdeen tradition on Wednesday evening.
The city’s Wallace 700 Society returned to the foot of the statue of the Scottish hero – now surrounded by a water feature – for the first time since 2019, when the park was sealed off for a £30 million facelift.
They had been hopeful of getting back to the William Wallace landmark last summer, but delays meant the sunken Victorian gardens and it surrounds remained off limits.
It was with a sigh of relief that organisers finally gathered around the 19th century monument.
Even if they weren’t huge fans of the “structural changes” at Union Terrace Gardens which left it playing out slightly differently.
Don’t worry, the “mirror pool” at the foot of the statue was drained before members mounted a ladder to place a wreath on it.
After the event began at 6.30pm, with a performance from the Kintore Pipe Band, poems about Wallace were read out.
The Very Reverend Emsley Nimmo gave a reading, and Lord Provost David Cameron laid the wreath.
The society was formed in 2005, in time for a special commemoration of the 700th anniversary of Wallace’s martyrdom.
The warrior was hung, drawn and quartered for being a traitor in London on August 23, 1305.
Attendees retired to the foyer of His Majesty’s Theatre for “coffee, tea and a blether” afterwards.
Our photographer Kenny Elrick was there to capture the best moments.
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