The boating pond at Duthie Park in Aberdeen is sure to be a popular spot with children over the coming weeks during the school holidays.
Aberdonians of all ages have enjoyed frequenting the pond for more than a century, whether playing with model boats or getting out on the water themselves.
Join us as we take a step back in time to enjoy some archive photographs of summer boating fun in the sun.
The pond has attracted visitors since the park opened in 1883, and drew crowds in for model yacht regattas in the early years.
This above photo dates from around 1900 is one of the earliest photos of the Duthie Park boating pond.
Victorian children in their blazers and tackety boots can be seen sailing model yachts that are almost as tall as they are.
The boating pond proved so popular, that in 1920 calls were made to make it bigger.
Aberdeen’s Links and Parks committee agreed to consider the plea from the model boat and power yacht club which had 50 boats in its fleet.
There weren’t 50 boats on this September day in the above photo from 1963, but a crowd had gathered to watch.
The children barely get a look in as the adults take charge of the boats.
In another photo of 1960s Aberdeen, the boating pond looks like a scene from a long-gone era.
A couple of children wrapped up warm on a cold March day in 1964 watch the yachts float by.
A scale replica of a Danish cutter majestically powered through the chilly waters at Duthie Park boating pond in December 1970.
Model maker Donald Smith was testing out his latest creation at the pond as young Ina Jack, 7, watched on.
Donald had crafted the 22-inch-long scale model of the vessel for an auction to raise funds for the RNLI the following spring.
These boys spent their September in-service holiday off school at the boating pond in 1988.
But the calm autumn day didn’t provide ideal conditions for sailing.
Young friends Frank Walker, John Shand, Mark Wood and Rory Wood had to join forces to blow the yacht into the wind.
Plenty of visitors took to the water of the boating pond on this sunny July day in 1990.
Holidaymakers at Duthie Park included brothers Michael and Barry Nisbet from Shetland, who enjoyed a spot of kayaking.
Unseasonably mild weather for the October holidays saw these lads trying out a pedalo on the duck pond in 1990.
With only ducks for company, these young sailors had the pond to themselves.
It was a glorious August weekend in this happy summer scene from Duthie Park pond in 1999.
Norma Mitchell took to the water with her daughter Anne-Carron and her friend Natalie Murray.
In recent years, the linked lakes at Duthie Park boating pond have undergone restoration, and paddle boats, model yachts and kayakers still make a splash all year round.
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