Haddo House Easter Egg Hunt
A few years ago Aberdeenshire Council found they could no longer support the Haddo Easter Egg Hunt to the same extent. Oldmeldrum Rotary stepped in to ensure this great family event continued, and we have now been organising the event since 2003.
Come, rain, hail or shine, hundreds of local and visiting families turn out to enjoy the park and search for the 1,500 wooden eggs which are hidden around the park.
Oldmeldrum Rotary Club is pleased to have not only the support of Lord Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Council, but also the many local volunteers who play a large part in making this a very enjoyable day.
"Found an egg!"
Haddo Egg Hunt - Easter Sunday, 4th April 2010
Large numbers turned out on Easter Sunday to the Rotary Club of Oldmeldrum's annual egg hunt at Haddo House. Despite slippery conditions in the field set aside for cars which made parking troublesome, the forecast heavy rain forecast stayed away, allowing over 4,000 people to enjoy the day.
Over 2000 painted wooden eggs were hidden in Haddo Country Park throughout the day by a team of dedicated ‘hiders’. Once found, wooden eggs could be exchanged for chocolate ones,. While some children opted to keep one or more of their wooden eggs, over 500 were exchanged for chocolate ones.
Other attractions on the day included an 'activity marquee' where children could decorate eggs or small felt bags. A team of face painters from Meldrum Academy were also present, ready to transform children into butterflies or tigers! In all, seven egg rolling runs took place down down Deer Hill.
The RotaKids of Tarves Primary School did a wonderful job in organising and running the Easter Bonnet competition and parade in the afternoon. They prepared well, with colourful posters advertising the event and writing successfully to local businesses to obtain prizes they could give away.
The event saw a number of community groups come together to take part.
Friends of Haddo oversaw and judged the painted egg competition which once again attracted many magnificent entries. Winners on the day included: Amira Cheyne (5) of Inverurie; Sarah More (11) of Tarves; Ryan Smith of (3) Aberdeen; Rhiannon Pirie (6) of Bridge of Don; Ellie Henderson (8) of Ardallie; Elliot Smith (2) of Methlick; Kaylah Miller (7) of Auchterless; Roisin Morton (10) of Ythsie; Ellie Gunn and Natasha Weir.
The educational element offered by the Aberdeenshire Library Services proved to be very popular with parents with younger children. Their 'Bookstart' stand was very busy throughout the day and the Book Character Quiz attracted 82 entries. The winning entry drawn was by Sofia Masson, aged 3, from Ellon.
Other community involvement on the day included Grampian Community Police who said they had enjoyed the day and looked forward to returning next year. Melanie Baldwin, Waste Promotions Officer at the Waste Aware Bus, reported that “despite the grey clouds, there was an enthusiastic welcome for the Waste Aware Bus with plenty of visitors throughout the day. Children - and adults too - enjoyed exploring the bus and the interactive exhibits, learning how to 'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle' whilst having fun. Parents took the opportunity to ask questions on everything from food waste and home composting to plastics recycling as their children played.”
All funds collected on the day will go to good causes locally, nationally and internationally.
The Rotary Club of Oldmeldrum would like to thank the following for their support in allowing the event to take place:-
Major Sponsors: Lord Aberdeen Haddo Estate, Lawrence of Kemnay, Stewart & Watson, Wood Group Integrity Management
Sponsors & Supporters: ATU Consultancy Ltd, Meadows Veterinary Centre, Jaywalker Limited, Lochter Activity Centre, R & I Neish Ltd Peterhead, Oldmeldrum Post Office, Oldmeldrum Golf Club, Desswood Stores Aberdeen, Morrisons Supermarket, Inverurie, S. French Methlick, Mackie’s Of Scotland, Meldrum Academy, Meldrum & Daviot Scouts, Methlick Scouts, Friends Of Haddo, Tarves School And Rotakids, Haddo House NTS, Methlick Motors, St Andrews’ Ambulance Service, Grampian Police.
Sponsors For Easter Bonnets - Duthies’ Of Tarves, Hoodles Playbarn, Morrisons of Aberdeen, Tolquhon Gallery.
Mackies of Scotland donated 2000 bags of their crisps to hand out, and many people were pleased to accept these free gifts as well as the chocolate eggs.
Haddo Egg Hunt 2009 - Easter Sunday - 12 April 2009
What a beautiful day
it was on Sunday! Plenty of people from near and far took advantage of
the weather to attend the Rotary Club of Oldmeldrum annual Easter Egg Hunt
in Haddo Country Park.
More than 1500 cars were counted in the car park
and the marshals did a sterling job in getting everyone parked up ready to
enjoy the day. Club members also donned yellow tabards to man the reception
tent to inform people of the varied programme, how to find the eggs, hand
out quizzes and take in Easter bonnets for the competition. Most people
were astonished that there was no charge for the event. This a service to
the Community provided by the Rotarians of Oldmeldrum who are grateful to
the sponsors for their support and the donations received from the public
on the day to cover the costs.
Thus Oldmeldrum Rotarians would like to thank
the following individuals and companies for sponsorship and support given;
Lord Aberdeen Haddo Estate, Lawrence of Kemnay, Stewart & Watson, Ionik
Consultancy, George Wimpey East Scotland, Employment Solutions Consultancy,
JD Penny, Presly Pest Control Ltd, Jaywalker Ltd, Burns Coaches, Oldmeldrum
Post Office, R & I Neish Ltd, Desswood Stores Aberdeen, Morrison's Supermarket
Inverurie, , M&S Store Inverurie, , Duthies Of Tarves, Mackie's Of Scotland,
Michaelmuir Garage, Methlick Costcutter, S French Methlick, Methlick Motors,
Meldrum Academy, 1st Daviot and Oldmeldrum Scouts and Methlick Scouts.
We should also like to thank the St Andrews Ambulance personnel who attended
the event as first aiders.
We increased the number of eggs hidden this year and expect that we will
have to provide even more next year if the numbers attending continue to
increase! The marquee down at the Pheasantry provided the young people with
much entertainment.
There was face painting kindly provided by senior pupils
of Oldmeldrum Academy which as always generated long queues, craft tables
where they painted eggs, painted pictures and created designs.
The competitions
were well supported and the Easter bonnets which were paraded to much admiration,
before being judged by Katie Gifford, Kirstie Gifford and Shona Dempster resulted
in wins for Jasmine Weston aged 4, Lexie Murrison, aged 5 and Joshua Baughclark,
aged 7.
The painted egg competitions winners who ranged from 2-13 years were
as follows: Reece Arin, Leigh Irvine, Jack Morrison, Kathryn Mortimer, Ben
Bonner, Tia Knowles, Shannon Bonner, Emily Munro, Leon Knowles, Morgan Stewart,
Ryan McGillvery, Fraser ?, Amy Parley, Leoni Mortimer, Charlie Wilson, Spencer
Manclark, Jodie Leigh, Abigail Duthie, Aundrea Nugent, Emma McConald, Aby
Smart, Ella Richardson, Reagan Robson, Josh Lecky, Taylor Robson, Emma
Lecky, Katie Howard. Winners of the Easter Quiz were; Alex Pullar, Jennifer
Cordiner, and Craig Emmerson. Winners ranged from local visitors to
those from as far away as Manchester . Those not present to collect their
prizes will be contacted directly.
Many people noted the Shelterbox on display at the reception area. These
same shelter boxes were delivered on behalf of Rotary to the earthquake
region in Italy to assist those made homeless.
Down near the Pheasantry the
Police caravan with their “beer goggles” which, when on people, simulated
being drunk and thus unable to walk down a straight white line attracted much
humorous attention, but at the same time got the serious message about the
affects of alcohol across.
We were pleased to welcome The Friends of Haddo
Country Park who “wish to try to help improve the way that it is managed
for the benefit of visitors and to provide a voice for people who want to
make a positive contribution to the sustainable development of the Country
Park ” were also down at the Pheasantry and were pleased to report that
over 100 people applied for membership on the day.
Usually around Christmas-time
the Easter eggs appear, this year we turned it on its head and Christmas
came early, as the car raffle tickets for the CLAN Christmas Raffle were for
sale.
The programme of events culminated in the egg-rolling down Deer Hill when
a record number of 7 runs were undertaken. The Egg Rolling Event was exceptional
this year. Perhaps 150-200 participants and spectators (who end up participating
if they have to run out of the way) turned up on the hill, and in the now
time honoured tradition made an incredible mess, for the local wildlife to
clear up, eat, afterwards. 6 formal races and a Grand Finale (better
know as "free range"), were run; roughly split into under 5yrs, 5-8yrs, 8-13yrs,
adolescents, adults and free-range (everybody together), although towards
the end, this strict demarcation gets a bit confused.
Rotarians were delighted at the number of people who attended and participated .Willie Sinclair, the organiser, stated how satisfying it was to note that Rotary could provide such a great family event tailored to suit all the community, and we hope to see you all again next year on April 4th 2010!.
Haddo Egg Hunt - Easter Sunday - 21 March 2008
There
was snow, hail, rain and a sea of mud to contend with on Easter Sunday 2008,
but not the high winds experienced on the Friday before. The marquees proved
invaluable for the event and the calm weather on Saturday afternoon allowed
the Rotarians and Scouts to erect them.
On the Sunday some 1200 people and 500 plus cars trickled into the car park throughout the day. This number allowed the Rotary Car Park Team to direct only the 4 x 4s into the field, leaving the tarred car park for other cars. The tractor which had been arranged to extract vehicles from the mud wasn’t needed.
The ALEC vehicle, the Waste Awareness vehicle, the face painters, the Aberdeenshire Library Services ladies all arrived on cue to entertain the visitors. Four Red Cross personnel were on hand to deal with any emergency.
The 2008 Egg Rolling
Event passed without incident despite the sometimes atrocious weather on
the day. An early course inspection revealed the going as "snowy on mud" which was kindly packed down by the sledgers earlier in the morning.
Immediately prior to commencement "whiteout" conditions threatened to jeopardise the whole affair but these abated just in time and about 30 people appeared through the blowing snow. In light of the conditions we chose to have just three runs, and had sufficient prizes to give the majority of people who took part a prize. Under the circumstances this was a roaring success.
Obviously the visitor numbers were seriously down on previously years, however, the items purchased will be stored and used for next year’s egg hunt.
The winners of the painted eggs competition were as follows:-
Joy McCrae
Shannon Banner
Betty & Finn McCrae
Arin Irvine
Ellie Halmshaw
Ronan Cowie
Karlyn Mortimer
Craig Main
Calum Westland
Jasmin Shirran
Konnor & Kaitlin Carlton
The
face painting was also successful, and the photograph is of Maren Mowatt of
St Fergus.
The Easter Bonnet competition, judged by Elaine Falconer, resulted in a win for Hilary Gordon and Annette Ramsden.
Christine Falconer, the organiser, stated how satisfying it was to note that Rotary could rise to the occasion and run with the event, even though the weather was dreadful. People attending said they were enjoying themselves regardless of the weather, and appreciated the fact that it had not been cancelled.
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