Latest news with #Macduff
BBC News
5 days ago
- BBC News
Teenager who lost his legs in crash will 'never forgive' driver
A teenager who lost his lower legs in a crash says he "will never forgive" the drink-driver at the footballer Adam Golebiewski, 18, had been a passenger in Arran Paterson's car in Macduff, Aberdeenshire, in September last 19, admitted dangerous driving, being over the drink-drive limit and driving without insurance at Aberdeen Sheriff walked into court unaided on prosthetic legs following intensive rehabilitation. He told BBC News: "I want to try to enjoy life again and stay positive." He said the case was something to get off his shoulders and that "life is not over".Adam added: "I will never forgive that man for what he has done to me."I am still the same, I just don't have legs any more." Apprentice builder Adam, from Banff, was one of three passengers in the car that crashed in Macduff's Union Road in the early hours of Sunday 8 two others were also badly injured Adam was taken to hospital where his legs were amputated below the goalkeeper with junior side Deveronside faced three months of rehabilitation at Woodend Hospital in celebrated his 18th birthday during his period in was able to walk again on crutches and said he was "thankful and grateful" be home with his family for an interview with BBC Scotland News at the time he said: "It's been three months of pain, being trapped in hospital." Adam was able to walk without crutches to attend the court hearing, alongside family and defence solicitor Leonard Burkinshaw said his client was pleading guilty to the three admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and at excessive speed, losing control and colliding with a Graham Buchanan told Paterson he would defer sentence until next month for the preparation of background was continued and he was disqualified from driving.
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Lead on, Macduff: how the tide turned for Aberdeenshire's art deco lido
The vastness of Tarlair lido is hard to comprehend. Just a mile east of the town of Macduff, in Aberdeenshire, the lido's three bodies of sea water are supplied by a tidal filling system and divided by a concrete wall, slippery with seaweed. The water's reflection announces a striking mint-and-cream art deco pavilion, and a cinematic sea view. From the pavilion's roof terrace, where dandelion-coloured tables and chairs are set out, it's easy to lose a few minutes gazing beyond the salty outcrops to a northerly horizon. Originally commissioned by Macduff town council in 1929, the pavilion and pools – a paddling pool, boating 'lake' and swimming pool – were designed by architect John C Miller and opened two years later as one of only three art deco lidos of their kind in Scotland. The site reopened in late March after 30 years of closure and a decade of work costing approximately £2m. Momentum is building around the pavilion's heavily anticipated summer comeback and it is hoped that the pools will eventually be able to welcome swimmers again, too. Tarlair trustee Reg Connon fondly remembers swimming here as a child in the late 1950s. 'We used to come down as a family on weekends. We'd arrive at 10 in the morning and that was us until five at night … weather permitting,' he laughs. Gala days, swimming championships and even concerts catapulted Tarlair into a top leisure destination between the 1950s and 70s, serving communities and visitors alike as an attended pool from May until late August. It kept up its reputation until the 1980s and, on occasion, the water was emptied to host crowds for bands such as Jethro Tull, Wet Wet Wet and Celtic rockers Runrig. However, the early 90s saw a mass transfer of staff to an indoor pool in neighbouring Banff, which led to the lido's gradual closure. Then, as rival attractions held sway, it crumbled into an abandoned playground until 2012. 'The indoor pool at Banff changed everything,' Connon says. 'Around the same time cheap flights abroad became available and it was never the same again.' In the high season, Moray Firth tourists were ushered instead to Speyside whisky distilleries, bottlenose dolphin lookout points and lifeguard-monitored beaches. Tarlair's revival has been an arduous and inspirational 12-year effort by the Friends of Tarlair, a loyal band of 34 volunteers with the sole aim of restoring this once-thriving marine haven. The pavilion renovation project is a finalist in the Scottish Design Awards. Overseeing a pot of cullen skink for the pavilion's lunch menu, Pat Wain, a former art teacher and chair of the trust, reflects on the process. 'We've been messing around here for 12 years, but seriously trying to gain funding for 10 and, in that, many attempts were thwarted,' she says. A decade of funding has been granted by the Scottish government and Aberdeenshire council, rooted in the conservation of its status as an A-list property, but several conflicts meant its future was threatened continuously. 'At one point two proposed outcomes were to turn it into a lobster hatchery or do nothing,' Wain laments. 'I was just so incensed that doing nothing could be an option that three of us got together and formed the beginnings of the committee.' Registered charity status for the Friends of Tarlair followed in 2013, after the trio were told they couldn't officially speak at a district meeting. They eventually acquired a 99-year lease on the pavilion and haven't looked back since. It took a further eight years for a feasibility study to become a priority on the council's agenda, with tireless campaigning from the trustees to keep the lido. 'We carried on doing other things – keeping the rights of way clear, weeding the roads in the bay area, even though the road down here was well broken.' Sign up to The Traveller Get travel inspiration, featured trips and local tips for your next break, as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays after newsletter promotion In 2020, Tarlair caught the attention of London-based architect, swimmer and author of Sea Pools Chris Romer-Lee. He visited on a bleak day in February and quickly became fixated on the site. A year later, Pat called, asking if he and a business partner at Studio Octopi, James Lowe, would take on the pavilion renovations. Closed since 1996, the mesmerising pools are now a visual spectacle only, and stand next in line for extensive renovations. Planning permission for their restoration will be submitted this summer. It's still early in the day, yet streams of visitors circumnavigate the water, their curiosity – like mine – piqued. As a whole, the space is a crater of sorts, nestled below a jagged face of quartzite and limestone, framing a natural inlet once known as Loch Craig. It's haunting, serene, saturated with nostalgia – a panoramic portal to another time and almost enough to make you forget your train of thought. Yet we're all wondering: when can we get in? Cold-water swimmers have been a feature of this bay for centuries, gathering at Salmon Howie, an enchanting sandy cove on the inlet's edge. 'The lido – it's as if it grew from the rock,' says Pat, who volunteers on the site six days a week. 'Swimmers were always meant to be here.' Tarlair lido pavilion is open daily, 9.30am-2.30pm,
Press and Journal
25-04-2025
- Press and Journal
'Unimaginably depraved' Macduff rapist jailed for attacks on woman and child
A Macduff child rapist who carried out offences across Scotland has been jailed for 13 years after a jury convicted him of multiple historic sex crimes. William Stewart, 40, appeared for sentencing at the High Court in Aberdeen after a jury found him guilty of a series of rape and sex offences involving one woman and a child. The jury also found Stewart guilty of a number of violence offences as they convicted him of more than a dozen charges last month. It was stated that one of Stewart's victims, a child, was as young as five when she was first raped and sexually abused by him. Judge William Summers described Stewart's crimes as 'unimaginably depraved' and said his continued denial of his offences had been 'rightly rejected' by the jury. Following the trial, Stewart was found guilty of a total of 13 charges, including violently assaulting a pregnant woman and making threats to kill her unborn child at addresses and a McDonald's restaurant in both Motherwell and Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. It states that Stewart made numerous threats to harm the woman and her unborn child, before dragging her by the hair and body across the ground to her injury. These offences, which included punching his victim in the head and body and pushing food into her face, occurred between February 16 2004 and September 11 2006. He was also found guilty of raping the same woman during the same time period. Stewart was additionally convicted of an indecent assault on the same victim. The jury found Stewart had raped the same woman on another occasion between August 2004 and August 2005. He then kicked her to the body, causing her to fall to the ground, where he then poured water on her. On another occasion during the same time period, it was found that Stewart had threatened the woman with violence unless she carried out a depraved sex act. Stewart was also convicted of raping a child over a near eight-year period from when she was aged just five years old. These offences occurred at a number of addresses around Motherwell and Wishaw, including at a sports centre. The jury also found Stewart guilty of numerous depraved sex crimes against the child between 2010 and 2019 at addresses in Motherwell and Aberdeenshire. He was additionally convicted of a second count of rape against the same child between May 2018 and October 2019. Defence advocate Rhonda Anderson told the court that her client suffered from an alcohol addiction 'that has significantly impacted him throughout his entire life'. 'His background of trauma has no doubt contributed to his long-term abuse of alcohol,' she said. Ms Anderson went on to say that Stewart had suffered a significant trauma due to his father's death, which has 'never really left him and has never really been addressed'. The lawyer continued: 'He was, at the beginning of [this offending], a young man of 20 years of age, and that should also be considered. 'Mr Stewart has significant issues and there are significant medications that he requires to take – he is almost in continual pain. 'His mental health is also of concern,' Ms Anderson went on, adding that Stewart was a man who had 'long since given up on life'. 'He has for many years been existing but not living, and it is clear that with this background any custodial sentence will be extremely difficult for him.' However, Ms Anderson added that Stewart had been made aware that, due to the nature of his crimes and the impact on his victims, a significant prison sentence was 'inevitable'. 'His lordship has a duty to protect the public and reflect the serious nature of the offences before the court, particularly the offences that relate to the child complainer.' Sentencing Stewart, Judge William Summers told him his convictions represented 'a horrific catalogue of offending' that involved assault to injury, indecent assault and rape of an adult woman alongside sexual assault and the rape of a child. He described Stewart's offences as 'deeply troubling'. The judge added that Stewart had treated his adult victim as an 'object' to 'satisfy your own sexual ends' and stated that the offences relating to the child were 'unimaginably depraved'. 'It is of concern, though perhaps unsurprising, that you continue to deny any responsibility for your sexual offending,' the judge said. 'You adopt the same position as you adopted at trial, and that is a position that was rightly rejected by the jury.' Judge Summers sentenced Stewart to an extended sentence of 17 years, which would see him serve 13 years in prison and five years on licence within the community. The judge also placed Stewart on the sex offenders register for life and put a non-harassment order in place for both victims, meaning that Stewart cannot ever approach them again.
