From Sunday service to summer clubs: 13 photos of Aberdeen churches and parishes through the decades
Time for a cuppa after the Garthdee Church Womans Guild bring and buy sale at the church with Mrs Agnes Balgowan pouring for thirsty members under the watchful eye of Mrs Marjory Haddow, President (right).
In this week’s edition of The Aberdonian we get a peek at what Aberdeen churches looked like between the late 1940s and early 1990s.
The gallery below shows five Aberdeen churches, only three of which are still open and operating.
Greyfriars Church – adjoined to Marischal College – is one of the two pictured that fell in disuse over the years. The building – that many of us walk past every day – saw the beginning of renovation works in 2020 when scaffolding was erected to transform the former kirk into a bar and restaurant.
Despite the radical change of purpose of the building, the plans of conversion and refurbishment proposed were developed with the intention of keeping its character intact.
Do you recognise any familiar faces in the photos below? Maybe you’re one of the Ladybirds playing with clay?
1978 – Scaffolding surrounds the spire of Gilcomston South Church as work is carried out.
1971 – The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Andrew Herron, follows Greyfriars Church minister the Rev George D Goldie up the aisle to mark the church’s 500th anniversary.
1980 – Greyfriars Parish Church Woman’s Guild members Mary Martin and Jenny Mathieson cut the cake.
1986 – Youngsters at the Ferryhill South Church Summer Club prepare to make a biblical frieze about Moses.
1989 – Ferryhill South Church Young Women’s Group founder, Lilian Morrison, cuts the 25th anniversary cake.
1957 – An immaculate striped lawn frames neat borders which are being tended to at Garthdee Church.
1991 – The Greyfriars Chimes musical group line up for a final rehearsal in Greyfriars Church.
1988 – The Ferryhill South Church Ladybirds group enjoy playing with modelling clay.
1987 – The Garthdee Church Woman’s Guild bring and buy sale, with Agnes Balgowan pouring tea for thirsty members.
1949 – Bright sunshine on a winter’s day casts a shadow on Gilcomston St Colms Church on Skene Street.
1988 – The Rev Alistair Brown surveys the spacious Gerrard Street Baptist Church.
1969 – Greyfriars Kirk’s east window, which is highly ornate and traceried, survives from an earlier church on the Marischal College site.
1990 – High above Union Street, steeplejack Mark Perfect wields his hammer to free the masonry of the Gilcomston South Church.
