Paraffin Young live again!
The father of the oil industry, James "Paraffin" Young, answered a call from beyond the grave to open Satrosphere's new science and technology club, The Basement Bunch.
Satrosphere's £100,000 fundraising plea to set up the new club was answered by the 1990's descendants of Dr Young, who invented the basic refining processes, in the form of BP's Andrew Allliance.
Dr Young, played by Aberdeen actor Alistair Harvey of Live Wire theatre company, entertained pupils from Broomhill Primary School with a demonstration of old chemistry apparatus and memorabilia at the recent opening.
The £100,000 was donated by the Andrew partners and Andrew Alliance members to celebrate the Andrew Field's success.
The money was used to renovate and update information at the basement at Satrosphere's Justice Mill Lane premises and for three years administration costs.
Robert Brown, BP asset manager for the Andrew Field, said: "When Satrosphere issued their plea we thought it was ideally suited to us.
"The club's aim is to promote science and engineering among children, so hopefully they will find it really exciting and may even plan a career in the industry."
The work of Paraffin Young, the first man to separate oil into wax, fuel and grease, created the oil boom in the Lothians in the 1850s and led directly to the building of the BP refinery at Grangemouth.
Aberdeen Herald & Post - Thursday 26 th June 1997