Sportman’s Club, 11 Queens Road, Aberdeen, AB15 4YL

Tickets cost £10 and includes a buffet, childcare is available.

Pre-booking is essential, for more information on how to do this, please visit

As the dawn rises on 2015, Dundee emerges from its industrial past to a new era. Four Marys- Slessor, Brooksbank, Walker and Baxter, each helped shape the city in their different ways and they meet in a disused jute mill to discuss their roles in creating the Dundee that is spread out before them. The good, the bad and the ugly truth will be revealed in this new play developed for the Mary Slessor Centenary.

This play is supported by the University of Dundee. For more information contact a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk.

Guest Lecture at the Dundee and Angus College, Gardyne Campus as part of Dundee Women’s Festival.

A talk was delivered by chairman of the Mary Slessor Foundation, Doug Binnie, telling of the work of the Mary Slessor Foundation in Calabar, Nigeria, and the challenges it faces, and comparing it to the work of Mary Slessor, an extraodinary woman.

While undoubtedly she faced different and sometimes even greater dangers and difficulties than the Foundation does today, it is notable that some of these still exist. Poverty and hardship is still an every day burden, education is still limited and life expectancy is still short.

This event was free and open to the public.

Thanks to generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, an exhibition has been launched and will be the centriepiece of the centenary celebrations, running for 6 months.

The exhibition is at Verdant Works @ Scotland’s Jute Museum and is free to visit.

The main exhibition will run from 11 April – 1 November 2015

The upper gallery features a selection of entries from the centenary competitions which will be open from 11 April until 19 July 2015

For more details about Verdant Works please call 01382 309060

The centenary exhibition tells the story of Mary Slessor’s journey from Dundee mill girl to missionary and later magistrate in Calabar. It celebrates her work to improve the lives of the local tribes, in particular the women and children and her ongoing legacy.

This tempoaray exhibition includes personal objects which belonged to Mary Slessor from the collections of Dundee Art Gallery and Museums, along with contemporary images and quotes from her letters wrtten during her life in Calabar.

The story begins in Dundee, an expanding industrial city, struggling with poor housing, sanitation and poverty. It then follows Mary as she sets out for the then mysterious continent of Africa, encountering a whole new set of dangers and challenges.

Exhibition curated by: Catriona Baird, Freelance Curator

Designed by: GBDM Ltd. Dundee: Griff Boyle, Wendy Maltman and Emma Thompson.

On January 13th, 1915, Mary Slessor, Mother of all the Peoples, passed away. She is buried in Nigeria where she spent the majority of her life, and where she was loved by all.

In honour of the life and work of Mary Slessor, the Mary Slessor Foundation, assisted by a selection of other organisations, has commissioned a bronze plaque to be made which will be erected at the City Churches.

The plaque was revealed in an unveiling ceremony which took place 100 years to the day since Mary’s death, January 13.

Through this plaque, we hope to increase awareness of this remarkable woman, who, despite her huge acheivements, is little known of even in her own city.

Mary Slessor was an extraodinary woman. In her work as a missionary in the Calabar region of Nigeria she demonstrated a rare ability to combine steely resolve and uncompromsing strength with deep compassion and remarkable selflessness. She was both unconventional and inspirational and yet the incredible story of her life is as yet largely untold.

There is little to commemorate the phenomenal achievements of Mary Slessor, although she is one of 25 Dundonian women who feature in the Dundee Women’s Trail. Mary Slessor Square is a street found in a housing development which was part of the very successful conversion of Upper Dens Mills. This was once a Baxter Brothers’ weaving mill where she worked. However, there are no means of conveying to those who live there or visit, who Mary Slessor was or why the street has been given her name.

With the financial support of the Hillcrest Group, Dundee City Council, Dundee Civic Trust, Dundee Historic Environmental Trust and the Walter Marshall Trust, a local sculptor Roddy Mathieson was commissioned to design and manufacture a commemorative bronze plaque. This is located on the lawn at the CIty Churches, Nethergate, Dundee. Wishart Church in which Mary Slessor worshipped was in recent times, subsumed into The Steeple Church. The stone on which the plaque is mounted has been kindly donated from Craigenlow Quarry, a few miles west of Aberdeen, the city in which Mary Slessor was born.

Writer and Broadcaster Billy Kay was invited by the University of Dundee to deliver an illustrated talk.

This was a public event and was free to the public, it was followed by a drinks reception.

Billy Kay is the author of The Scottish World, and the producer and presenter of several serieis of fascinating radio documentaries about the global effects of the Scottish Diaspora. Here Billy will place Mary Slessor in the context of the Scottish Diaspora and of the Scottish missionary effort which attempted to plant Presbyterianism in places as far afield as Russia, China, Africa and Brazil. The talk will be illustrated with audio from Billy’s programmes and will include music from Mary’s Duketown Parish Church in Calabar, and the voices of the daughters of Daniel Slessor, one of the children saved and adopted by Mary.

Short Story Writing Competition, Nine Trades of Dundee in conjunction with the Mary Slessor Foundation.

All S2, high school pupils in Dundee were invited to submit a short piece of writing for this competition, influenced by the story of Mary Slessor.

The winning entries are now displayed in the temporary gallery space of Verdant Works, Dundee until 19 July 2015!

Photography Competition, Dyer Craft of Dundee in conjunction with the Mary Slessor Foundation.

Students in primary, junior and senior schools were invited to submit their photographs for this photgraphy competition influenced by the story of Mary Slessor.

The winning entries are now on display in the temporary gallery space of Verdant Works, Dundee, until 19 July 2015

Next to the stained glass window depicting the works of Mary Slessor in the McManus Galleries Cafe, Ruth Kirkpatrick shared with the audience the struggles and acheivements of this remarkable woman, Mary Slessor.

Ruth Kirkpatrick weaves the threads of Mary’s life into a rich tapestry to commemorate the centenary of her death using her fascinating story intertwined with songs and personal insight.

Ruth has performed at Storytelling festivals all over the world, including Dubai, Iceland, Singapore and India. She is known for adding something different to her performances and forming a warm rapport with her audiences.

14.00 – 15.30pm (doors open at 13.45)

Join curator Dr Sarah Worden and guests in a celebration of Mary Slessor’s remarkable life on the centenary of her death.

Mary Slessor (1848 – 1915) was born in Aberdeen and raised in Dundee. Inspired by David Livingstone, she was recruited as part of the expansion of African mission work in the Calabar region, during an era in which Christianity and colonialism made a great impact on the way of life for the indigenous people.

At the event, Dr Esther Breitenbach, Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh introduced us to Mary, describing her life and work in Calabr (now Nigeria) and her status after her death.

Curator Dr Sarah Worden considered the impact that Mary – and other missionaries like her – had, on shaping museum collections in the mid to late 19th century and into the early 20th century.

The event was hosted and chaired by Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive, Edinburgh Cyrenians.

Part of International Women’s Day on Sunday 8 March 2015.