Ballater Geddes Project 2004
Winter 2004 Report

BGP2004 Main

Exhibition Materials Request
Our 2004 Geddes Exhibition will take place in the Old Royal Station, Ballater from August to October. While we already have exhibition material and more in development additions would be welcome. So, if you or your organisation can loan archive material, photographs, drawings, documents, letters etc. which deserve a public airing PLEASE contact us as soon as possible. We would greatly appreciate being able to provide the best and most interesting Exhibition possible. Please contact us on the web site e-mail.

150th Anniversary On The Horizon

For those of us involved in the Ballater Geddes Project 2004 it has been a busy time. Sometimes it seems as if a Project like this can take over your life and at times it does! So with the anniversary in sight, but drawing breath for a moment, it would be a good time to review what has been achieved so far and to look forward to further ideas to honour this famous son of Ballater.

Sir Patrick Geddes was born in Ballater, Scotland in 1854 and died in Montpellier, France in 1932 having travelled the world involved in various planning, educational and humanitarian projects. BGP2004 seeks to commemorate the birth of this famous son who went on to become a visionary town planner and ecologist amongst many other interests. The Project seeks to inform and create awareness and markers about Geddes in the Geddesian spirit. The Project uses one of his many sayings as its motto: “By Leaves We Live” – a challenging philosophical statement. At all times our efforts are guided by the Geddesian spirit of education and usefulness to the local community and visitors.

“This is a green world, with animals comparatively few and small, and all dependent on the leaves. By leaves we live. Some people have strange ideas that they live by money. They think energy is generated by the circulation of coins. Whereas the world is mainly a vast leaf colony, growing on and forming a leafy soil, not a mere mineral mass: and we live not by the jingling of our coins, but by the fullness of our harvests.” 
- Patrick Geddes
Project Strand Status
The name Sir Patrick Geddes Way (possibly the longest street name ever?!) was given to new affordable housing in the east of the village, very much in keeping with Geddes’ ideals - he felt that all should live in decent accommodation regardless of wealth. Complete
A new bus stop has been erected at Tullich Road at the new housing to provide shelter to passengers and encourage an alternative to the car, this would have appealed to Geddes an environmentalist 100 years ahead of his time. The bus stop bears the Project logo and a short biography of Geddes to inform passengers while waiting for the bus. Makes a change from advertising! Complete
A Geddes Exhibition of five panels explaining Geddes’s life and work has been made along with a supporting brochure. Arts workshops have been held and the Exhibition has been displayed in Ballater and on a tour of libraries in the North East of Scotland. Some of our panels and materials were recently loaned to a Scottish Executive Event in Edinburgh to reward good planning where the Old Royal Station, Ballater was praised. The panels are permanently based in Ballater School to serve as teaching materials for our schoolchildren. Complete
A web site has been established at www.ballaterscotland.com/geddes to host and explain the Project’s activities which features: Geddes information, reading lists, links to universities and other sites, an international directory, and photographs and press releases about the project and various supporting documents about aspects of the project. This area of the web site is high in the list of viewers. Continuing
A Walkway has been planned between The Old Royal Station and Ballater School. The route is to be marked by lovely work done by Ballater School children inscribed on plaques. Many thanks to the children for their work – it is very impressive and will be a pleasure for parents and children to see. Geddes was an advocate for the arts and children’s part in it. Continuing
Again with Ballater School, the Project is pioneering International links. Patrick Geddes worked with the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore for thirty years and helped plan an international university in India which still exists today. Through a Project member contact has been made with a school in Kolkata (Calcutta) to which links have been established.
Following a visit from a partner in the school to Ballater School and BGP2004 we decided to create links using the Internet to transmit pictures, video and voice. BGP2004 proposed the acquisition of cameras to make this possible and Ballater Victoria Week has kindly financed the purchase of the cameras. Many thanks to Victoria Week for helping enhance the school children’s studies of other cultures in their classwork and letting our children see how others live.		 Almost Complete
Web Cam / Camera Obscura. Aiming to replicate the Outlook Tower in Edinburgh using modern technology by placing cameras on Craig Coillich, Ballater. The Outlook Tower on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh shows the city and surrounding area using a periscope to project an image in a darkened room. We propose to do the same here into the Station Building and onto to the world wide web for educational purposes and to allow visitors and those unable to get into the hills to see them. The images would be available on the Internet and in the Station by means of a steerable camera projecting its images onto a table there. We recommend a visit to the Outlook Tower to see the 150 year old technology in action or you can view pics taken from it by a Geddes project member at www.ballaterscotland.com/geddes remembering to substitute beautiful Edinburgh for beautiful Ballater and the Cairngorms, Lochnagar, Morven etc and the Cairngorm National Park. Proposal Stage
A proposal by BGP2004 for a “Geddes Garden” was explained at an open, public consultation with local residents at Hawthorn Grove. It has to be said that the opinions from the residents were mostly “good idea but not here”. So if anyone has a good idea about some ground in Ballater that would benefit from some landscaping/planting then we are open to suggestions. Pending
For 2004  
Launch/completion of strands already started but not yet completed. Continuing
August - October 2004 Geddes Exhibition in the Old Royal Station, Ballater. Planning
Geddesian "Language of Rivers" Arts Events at Ballater & Finzean Schools. Planning
© Ballater Geddes Project 2004 (1999-2004).