Aberdeen Cares Exhibition

Collaboratively working with Aberdeen Art Gallery and Curator Lynne Clark, we launched a new exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery, marking the 150th anniversary of VSA. The exhibition opened to the general public on the 12th of March. Prior to the exhibition opening, a civic reception was held by the Lord Provost's office on the 10th of March.

A total of 110 guests joined us at the civic reception and special thanks to the Lord Provost and Aberdeen City Council for hosting the event.

Since 1870, Aberdeen Association of Social Service (VSA) has stood next to the people of the city, offering care, support, and vital services to vulnerable people in our communities.

To mark the organisation’s 150th anniversary, this exhibition, which is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, explores VSA’s role in the history of social care in Aberdeen.

Alexander Nicol, a former Lord Provost of Aberdeen (1865-1869), was inspired after his term in office to establish an organisation that could help change the lives of people living in poverty across the city for the better. Every Lord Provost of Aberdeen serves as President of VSA.

Lynne Clark, who curated the exhibition for VSA, gathered together 150 stories from archives across the city as inspiration for the exhibition’s themes.

Aberdeen Cares highlighted the impact of human kindness through poignant and inspirational personal stories, archival photography, documents, and objects associated with caregiving in Aberdeen

Special thank you to Aberdeen Art Gallery, Lynne Clark, and the National Lottery Heritage Trust for funding the exhibition.

In addition to our exhibition, we also launched a heritage walking tour with thanks to students for the University of Aberdeen.

A team of 6 students volunteered a total of 100 hours to research and establish a VSA heritage walking tour.

Thank you also goes to the individuals who shared their journey and experiences of support from VSA across the years.

Their digital stories can be viewed on our heritage microsite heritage.vsa.org.uk