ONCE A SCHOOL, NOW A COMMUNITY CENTRE. 1950-1982....1984 ONWARDS Inchgarth was a school from 1950 to 1982, serving thousands of local children until it closed to become a community centre in 1984. The centre has had various management committee's since 1984 where local people gave up their time to create services for people of all ages. From 1996 the centre witnessed a period of significant change, a new drive and direction, and a management committee formed who had a vision to become Aberdeen's busiest centre within 5 years. This goal was achieved within 5 months, outlining the determination of the volunteers and management committee to create something unique. The building was in a very poor condition with every hall, floor, wall, toilet, kitchen, corridor needing upgraded. A decade of regeneration of the building, programme, and facilities took place which cemented Inchgarth's position as Aberdeen's leading centre, and one that was going places.
BIG CHANGES FROM 2009. The biggest challenges facing the organisation was the need to secure the long term sustainability and security of the building and services. We had a lease that had expired and was fighting the city council for a long term lease for not only Inchgarth, but for all centre's in Aberdeen, while the windows and electrics were long past their use and safety, with essential refurbishment required for Inchgarth to have any future. In late 2008 we embarked on a full double glazing window replacement and electrical re-wire which seen us closed for just under a year, where we decanted our programme down to the Kaimhill community centre wing. Upon returning to Inchgarth is 2009 we had to completely re-decorate this huge building top to bottom, embarked on a 2 month deep clean, and moved all of our groups back. This also resulted in significant financial challenges where the decant resulted in major losses in revenue. All of the repair work that we undertook from 1996 to this point had to be done all over again due to the damage done with the refurbishment. This represented another colossal challenge for the team, but one which we faced head on to further improve the centre.
LONG TERM SECURITY GRANTED IN 2023 AFTER DECADES OF ASKING. From 1996 we requested the long term security from our landlords, the city council, via a long-term lease, yet despite promises being given that this would be granted, it took until 2023 and many years of fighting for this to be concluded. Sadly, there were officers within the city council that simply preferred to be obstructive rather than supportive. The tenacity of our team not only secured a long term lease for Inchgarth, but it done so for all other centre's in Aberdeen.
WE HELPED OUR PEOPLE AND 30 COMMUNITIES OF ABERDEEN DURING THE PANDEMIC. Covid-19 witnessed our centre close, like all other public facilities, on 16th March 2020 due to the international pandemic, which placed Inchgarth in a position of great uncertainty in terms of finance and the future. 3 days later, we re-opened and became an anchor organisation under the request of the Scottish government and major funders such as the National Lottery, where Inchgarth, ACVO and SHMU were to become focal points of support for thousands of people in the city. Initially we set up a large support service distributing food, clothing, essentials, IT, bedding, nappies, white goods, internet, hygiene products, money, vouchers and more to Garthdee residents, while by the end of the month we were supporting 30 communities in Aberdeen, distributing hundreds of thousands of pounds in support, which also lead us to create a large foodbank service supporting hundreds of families and thousands of people in the city. A difficult time, a huge learning curve, but one which made us hugely proud of our team and volunteers who helped a city during their greatest time of need. Our team were recognised via a motion to the Scottish government for the support provided during and after covid.
YEARS OF TREMENDOUS PROGRESS AND MEETING WONDERFUL PEOPLE. Throughout the last near 3 decades Inchgarth has firmly cemented its place as a forward thinking, hard working, and progressive centre for people of all ages and walks of life. While it is our core remit to support local people, our services attract users from all over Aberdeen and beyond. Over 2000 people use the centre in 2025, with a further 500+ in our sheltered housing out-reach projects, while the centre has a 150 sessions of activity from babies to those in their 90's. Inchgarth supports a wide range of local and city wide organisations, sharing our knowledge and experience to assist other communities to follow our lead.
THE HIGHEST AWARD IN THE UK. THE QUEENS AWARD FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE. INCHGARTH BECOMES AN MBE In 2017 Inchgarth was given the highest award in the UK in recognition to the organisations outstanding achievements, and to note the amazing efforts of the volunteers past, present, and future. The Queen's Award For Voluntary Service is only given to a small select amount of organisations, and is an MBE for the organisation. We were hugely proud of this achievement, and all thanks to our wonderful and dedicated volunteers and team.
TAKING INCHGARTH TO THE NEXT LEVEL....WE DARED TO DREAM HIGH, AND DONE IT! Over a period of ten years we tried to raise the capital funding in order to extend the centre, which would give us the much needed space, opportunity to provide even more activities to meet the need of our residents, and to provide new and exciting facilities for all to enjoy. 5 knock-backs in total over this decade, from various sources, and in 2023 we succeeded in obtaining an amazing £1.9 million from the Scottish Government, and a further £2 million investment from Aberdeen city council, in order to build a large extension that would meet our needs for generations to come. With other funding and improvements, the new extension will see a whopping £4.5 million invested into providing wonderful new opportunities. Huge thanks goes to the Scottish Government and Aberdeen city council for their support, belief in our centre, and for investing into Garthdee and our people.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Inchgarth has shown a resilience, determination, and single minded vision to constantly improve our services, to support those most in need, and to protect our centre for generations to come, and while we are about to embark on the wonderful extension from May 2025, we won't be stopping there. We have plans to expand further beyond the completion of our new extension, and as always, our members and users will be at the heart of all that we do.
Inchgarth is unique, there's no doubting this, and while it has been one massive learning curve, and continues to be so, we invite you to get in touch and see for yourself why Inchgarth was recognised by Her Majesty the Queen, and why Inchgarth is widely recognised as the jewel in the crown of community centre's in Aberdeen, if not Scotland. Get in touch, be part of our story, and enjoy making new friends at Inchgarth.
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Chair: Paul O'Connor MBE (Burgess of the city of Aberdeen) Secretary: Andrew Murray (Burgess of the city of Aberdeen) Vice Chair &Treasurer: Gary Aitkenhead. Member: Amelia Leys Member: Lesley Knowles Member: Josephine Duthie Member: Catriona Manby Member: Bryan Hall (Burgess of the city of Aberdeen) Member: George Thomson Member: Mary Simpson Member: Andrew Harrington Member: Steve Kearney Member: Adrian Thomson (Burgess of the city of Aberdeen) Member: Harry Buck Member: Maurice Pickles Member: Gordon Yeoman Member: Lindsay McPherson Member: Jamie Culligan
