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A full turnout made for our most successful blood donation session to date, meaning we surpassed the session target! We can’t thank everyone enough for their time… and blood.

Blood demand is unpredictable and even differs with each blood type. For example O- blood can be given to patients with all blood types. AB+ can only be given to patients with AB+. To be ready to help patients in all Scottish hospitals, whenever they need it, the aim is to stock six days’ worth of each blood type at all times.

Blood has a very short shelf life and can’t be stockpiled, so every day donors are depended on to help maintain blood stocks.

The journey of donated blood

The blood you give is taken directly to the nearest processing and testing laboratories, where it is separated into three components – red blood cells, platelets and plasma.

All donations are tested for viruses such as HIV and hepatitis, which can be passed from donor to patient. It’s rare for a donation to test positive, but if it does, we contact the donor as soon as possible and offer confidential advice. However, if everything is in order, we label your donation and send it out for use across Scotland.

Blood must be available 24/7 throughout Scotland, including the most remote areas. Therefore, your blood will be sent to one of 28 blood banks across the country, where it will be refrigerated until use. Blood has a shelf life of 35 days and platelets can only be used for up to seven days, while fresh frozen plasma can be kept for up to three years. Careful management of hospital stocks and rapid, frequent delivery systems are essential for maximising the use of blood.

Blood is a precious, perishable resource and while new ways of using it means it helps more patients than ever before, there will always be a need to replenish supplies. When you give blood, you’re doing something amazing – and we hope you’ll keep doing it.

We had the privilege of welcoming Myles Edwards, alongside Lewis Walker, his coach of 13 years, to present a talk to runners from various companies at Prime Four – focusing on the benefits of interval and threshold training, as well as motivation and performance psychology, for runners of all abilities.

Lewis is an endurance coach with a long history of middle- and long-distance running success both as a runner and coach. He has coached 6 athletes to GB vests ranging from 800/1500m to 100K Road Ultra, including mountain and trail. Myles is a former Scotland champion in the 1,500m and now marathon runner, he also is the founder of Gathimba Edwards Foundation.

It was both informative and inspiring for everyone, to tap into Lewis’ expertise and interesting to hear first hand from Myles on how the training impacts his performance and how any runner can incorporate the principles into their training for improvement.

A special thanks to everyone who came along, to Myles and to Lewis for travelling to Aberdeen to make it possible.

The Christmas spirit has begun at Prime Four! Our popular wreath making workshop was the perfect way to start the holiday cheer. Hot drinks and sweet mince pies welcomed everyone’s arrival, as Azalea Flowers did their magic in demonstrating the art of wreath making.

From baubles to berries and robins to ribbons, a huge array of decoration pieces were at hand to choose from for all participants to add their own flare to their wreath creation. The end results were fantastic…

Thank you to all 119 entrants and 35 volunteers who turned out for the final race in the GEF Safari Series. Held here at Prime Four, the event raised a record £2,060 on Sunday 6th October.  This money is going to be life changing for children in Kenya and north-east Scotland.

Having supported the event since day one, Prime Four were delighted to sponsor and host the race again and were pleased to see so many entries.

The GEF Safari Series of races, licensed by Scottish Athletics, gives runners the chance to compete over 3 different distances whilst also receiving a unique Kenyan safari animal medal at each event. The Prime Four event featured a 3k race and 1k kids race. Congratulations to the following giraffe themed trophy winners:

Kids 1k: 1st boy, James Gerrard. 1st girl, Coco Czekalowska.

3k: 1st male, Ritchie McGaw. 1st female: Hayleigh Reid.

Race results can be found here.

Photos can be downloaded here thanks to James Murison.

When your children outgrow their trainers or football boots, donating them to The
Russell Anderson Foundation will help provide more children with the opportunity
to enjoy sports.

The Russell Anderson Foundation works with over 2,300 children weekly from
some of the most deprived areas across Aberdeen City. Many of the activities they
offer require appropriate footwear, and sadly, numerous children do not own
proper sports shoes.

If you are willing to donate, we kindly ask that you wash your items and drop them
off at the collection point within Apache’s reception during normal office hours.
We believe every child should have the opportunity to participate in sports,
regardless of their background

Drop off: Apache Corporation, Prime Four Business Park,
Kingswells Causeway, Aberdeen, AB15 8PU

Participants arrived in their droves to take part in what was another fantastic Beast Race. An overcast day at Knockburn Loch was the setting of this epic race. With another sell out year, the popularity of this local 10k obstacle race doesn’t seem to be shifting. With food/drink vendors, spectators and volunteers at the ready, the first wave of race goers took to the hills at 9.45am. With waves going every 15 minutes, the new revised route quickly became scattered with participants.

Whilst the first few kilometers are ‘dry’, the hill incline and Stags leap obstacles worked on making the legs heavy by the time they reached the Beast Bog… it smells like it sounds! The first dip for racers, the Beast Bog required you to wade in to thick, boggy water up to neck deep and make your way 10 meters or so until the exit into the forest. Some downhill parts of the route gives the glutes some respite however, it isn’t long until it’s interrupted by the ankle biter and sand bag carry, amongst other obstacles.

It’s not until nearly 7k that you get to clean the Beast Bog off you and experience the balmy 14C temperatures of Knockburn Loch. Although chilly, it’s a fun part of the race both to watch and take part. From here, participants are in and out the water making the last section of the race feel a little tougher just before being turned orange at Clay Clag.

One last dook in the Loch and a slide down Drainpipe rat soon made everyone’s clothes and skin colour a little less orangey so crossing the finish line had a little more glamour!

The race attracts various levels of fitness and people from all walks of life however, the finishing results also show it attracts people of elite fitness. The first place finishing male crossed the line in an astonishing 49 minutes and 47 seconds, with an equally impressive top female finishing time of 58 minutes 52 seconds!

Well done to everyone from Prime Four who took part and congratulations to all participants who crossed the Beast finish line.

Only 3% of people give blood in Scotland so at Prime Four we are committed to doing our bit and boy did the workers at Prime Four show up! After a long hiatus due to Covid, Scotblood was back on site and ready for donors throughout the day.  Just one blood donation can save or improve the lives of up to three people so we are proud to have 48 donations completed at our session. A huge thank you to everyone who turned up today, including the nurses who worked non stop from arriving until leaving and with a smile on their face throughout.

Another thank you goes out FRESH cafe who generously donated a voucher for a free hot drink and shortbread to all donors today – it went down a treat!

It’s vital stock supplies are maintained so to check if you are eligible to donate, please visit the Scotblood website where you will also find most of the information related to blood donation and be able to book an appointment.

Global Running Day is a worldwide celebration of running that occurs on the first Wednesday of June every year and encourages all ages and abilities to get moving. It doesn’t matter how fast you run or how far you go. The important thing is that you get out and be active.  This day plays an important role, reminding us of the positives that running can offer to our physical and mental health.

As always, Prime Four were up for embracing the advantages of getting outside and taking some slow or fast steps around the amazing network of routes that are right on our doorstep at Kingswells. Our group started out with glorious sunshine before half way round encountering hailstones followed by some thunder right at the end… only in Scotland! A mixture of distances and speeds was covered with the group but everyone had the same result; a completed run, feeling better for doing it and fresh fruit kebabs to top it off.

Prime Four are committed to being as sustainable as possible so we were delighted to receive this certificate from our supplier!

Scotland is a European stronghold for the otter, a species of land, river and sea. So we were delighted to discover an otter had decided to have some lunch and a swim down in our suds pond. Great excitement was generated in the nearby offices and as the lovely creature confidently swam around and was seen diving down several times to catch something for lunch – surprisingly right in the middle of the day and unfazed by the Prime Four staff close by on a site walk around.

The otter was lost from most of England and Wales between the 1950s and the 1970s because of pesticide pollution of waterways. But it survived in Scotland’s cleanest bodies of water in the north and west.

Today, the species is flourishing across Scotland, and recovering well across the UK as waterways are cleaned up. The Scottish population is estimated to be around 8000 otters.

Otters are largely solitary, semi-aquatic mammals that get most of their food from lochs, rivers or the sea. The Scottish population has an unusually high proportion (perhaps 50% or more) of coastal-dwelling individuals, which feed almost exclusively in the sea. An otter must eat around 1–1.5kg of prey daily.

Coastal otters are sometimes called ‘sea otters’, but they are exactly the same species as the animals that live further inland. Mainly active during the day, coastal otters generally have much smaller home ranges than their riverine counterparts, because of the abundance of fish and crustacean prey in inshore waters. Otters must keep their fur free of salt using freshwater for it to remain effective as insulation.

In freshwater, otters feed:

• mainly on fish such as trout, salmon and eels
• on spawning frogs and toads in spring
• occasionally on mammals and birds

Otters that live in freshwater habitats are largely nocturnal and occupy very large home ranges (around 32km for males and 20km for females).

‘Holts’ are used for shelter and breeding and may take the form of a burrow, natural hole, cave or other structure (including man-made ones). Otters may also rest or seek temporary shelter in above-ground structures known as ‘couches’. Britain’s otters may breed during any month of the year.

The UK Wild Otter Trust is a registered charity and they collect information and sightings of otters – we have logged our little Prime Four visitor with them.

*Information taken from Nature Scotland.

A snapshot of our visitor: