Five years of data reveal the beating heart of a town
Stand outside Stonehaven Library for a moment and look at the windows. You’ll see posters, artwork, remembrance displays, charity appeals, children’s projects and community campaigns. But what you’re really seeing is something deeper.
You’re seeing Stonehaven showing who it is.
A Freedom of Information response from Live Life Aberdeenshire has now given us data on how those windows are used. And the picture it paints is remarkable.
A platform for the whole town
Over the past four years, the library windows have hosted 153 displays, covering every corner of Stonehaven’s community life:
- 45 arts, culture and heritage displays
- 36 charity and fundraising displays
- 26 community group and volunteering displays
- 15 sports and active group displays
- 13 health and wellbeing displays
- 8 children and youth displays
- 4 emergency and lifesaving service displays
- 3 library‑led displays
- 3 seasonal and civic event displays
These 153 displays have come from 81 different organisations — a level of community use that no other building in Stonehaven even comes close to matching.
Such As……..
Children and Young People
- Rhythm Nation — the kids’ dance troupe whose displays burst with colour and pride.
- Sea Cadets — young people learning discipline and service.
- Local schools — pupils seeing their work displayed publicly, giving them a sense of belonging.
Older People, Health and Wellbeing
- Mearns and Coastal Healthy Living Network — supporting older residents with connection and dignity.
- Stroke Scotland — sharing life‑saving information where everyone can see it.
- Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland — raising awareness of conditions affecting so many families.
Community Groups — the beating heart
- Horizon Beautiful Scotland — the volunteers who keep Stonehaven blooming, sweeping and cared for.
- Stonehaven Lions Club — organisers of the Fee’in Market and Harbour Festival.
- Stonehaven Rotary Club — supporting youth, charities and community events.
- Friends of the Open‑Air Pool — championing one of the town’s most iconic assets.
Lifesaving and Emergency Services
- RNLI — volunteers who go out in the worst weather so others can come home.
- NHS Grampian — campaigns that genuinely save lives.
Arts, Culture and Heritage
- Mearns Camera Club — turning the windows into a gallery of local faces and places.
- Lord Reith Exhibition — connecting Stonehaven to its own history.
- The Ury Players — bringing theatre and community spirit to the town.
And the one that stopped people in their tracks…
Chatty Crafts — whose incredible skills created the remembrance display for the War Memorial centenary, transforming the windows into a place of reflection, tenderness and pride.
A town reflected in glass
Five years of data confirm what many of us already felt: the library windows are one of Stonehaven’s most important community assets.
They’re where the town sees itself. Where groups find their audience. Where stories are shared. Where memories are made.
And if the library moves to Viewmount, all of this ends. The charities. The youth groups. The volunteers. The remembrance displays. The whole living record of Stonehaven — gone overnight.
And with them, a part of Stonehaven disappears too.
Forever.
So Aberdeenshire Council — just leave our library where it is.
Sign the petition.
Save Stonehaven Library – Sign the Petition to Stop the Relocation – Fill out form