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Gallery: Wallace statue celebration returns to new look Union Terrace Gardens after four-year hiatus

The event in honour of the Scottish hero was waylaid while the city centre park underwent a major revamp.

Crowds gathered at the Union Terrace Gardens William Wallace statue.
Crowds gathered at the Union Terrace Gardens William Wallace statue. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

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.

The William Wallace statue at Union Terrace Gardens
The Rosemount Viaduct statue in the early 1900s. Image: DC Thomson

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.

The William Wallace statue at Union Terrace Gardens has overlooked some changes in recent years.
Kintore Pipe Band played at the ceremony.
Many speeches were made.
Flag-bearers of all ages smile for the camera.
Members of the public turned out for the ceremony.
A drummer from Kintore Pipe Band.
The William Wallace statue looking over the blossoming Union Terrace Gardens.
Pipers from the Kintore Pipe Band welcomed crowds.
A piper from the Kintore Pipe Band plays at the ceremony.
Flooers O the Forrest by Pipe Major Clair Napier.
Hamish Henderson singing Freedom Come Aa Ye, a Scots language song written by Hamish Henderson in 1960.
William Wallace (Knight of Elderslie) was sung by Yvonne Morton and accompanied by Graham White.
Organiser John Mackay gives a speech to the crowd.
Flooers O the Forrest piped by Pipe Major Clair Napier.
The Very Reverend Dr A.E.Nimmo.
The Annual Wallace Address by Dr Alan Hay.
The Saltire flies next to the William Wallace statue.

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