News

Parish News Round-up

Thursday February 4

Our regular round-up of news received from churches

Please send items of parish news to magazine@lifeandwork.org or Life and Work, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN. Digital photographs should not be reduced. Please check the quality of your pictures: images which are blurry or too dark cannot be used. If there are children in any picture please confirm that their parents or guardians have given permission for publication.

Oldmachar Church in the Bridge of Don, Aberdeen collected 603 cans of food for two local foodbanks as part of a Winter Thanksgiving Festival. The initial challenge was to collect 500 cans during January. Members of the congregation and other users of the church building were invited to take part.

The cans were handed over to the Lighthouse Project, which works in Tillydrone, and to the Aberdeen North Foodbank, based in the Seaton area of the city, at a special thanksgiving service on Sunday January 24.

The minister, the Rev David Stewart, said: “When it came to planning our harvest festival in 2015, we reflected that in a large city suburb people have little connection with the land or the idea of crops safely gathered in. When folk in our community need something they simply go to one of the big supermarkets or shops.

“We decided that what really mattered was that we give thanks for God’s goodness and that we also look at how we support those in need. We wanted that support to be local and to be something that the whole church community could be involved in, including those who use the building during the week.

“So the Kirk Session decided that we could hold a Thanksgiving Festival in January and, in the very coldest and darkest months of the year, give something practical to the local foodbanks. We never expected that there would be such a good response. Every organisation got behind the project, from Brownies to exercise classes, mums and toddlers to the church café users.”

Pictured: the Rev David Stuart with Wilma Taylor from the Lighthouse Project.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Dr Angus Morrison, preached at Forfar East and Old to mark the 225^th anniversary of the present building on Sunday January 31.

The service was conducted by the church minister, the Rev Barbara Ann Sweetin, and one of her predecessors, the Rev Graham Norrie, read the scripture. A gaelic solo was sung by Ceitidh Smith from Inverness.

Invited guests included the Deputy Lieutenant, the Provost of Angus, local councillors, ministers, youth organisations and three members from East and Old’s twinned church in Zuglo, Budapest, Hungary.

Dr Morrison thanked the congregation for inviting him to share in this ‘significant celebration’ adding: “I wish you all the best and I know you will accomplish great things in the years to come.

“You reach out and face mission in the community squarely. As an eco-congregation you clearly have concerns for a global context and it is wonderful to hear of your twinning with Hungary.”

Dr Morrison is pictured with the church’s former and current ministers.

Tom Gray was honoured by a lunch in Conon Bridge on Sunday January 31 for his approximately 60 years as an elder.

He was ordained in Dundyvan Church in Coatbridge but, unfortunately, the records have been difficult to trace. Tom was admitted to the Kirk Session of Ferintosh Parish Church in Conon Bridge, in the Presbytery of Ross, on December 5 1970 and his service to this congregation was acknowledged at the morning service exactly 45 years on.

Pictured with Tom (second from right) is the Clerk to the Congregational Board, Janet Murray, the Session Clerk, Frederick McCreadie and the minister, the Rev Andrew Graham.

Tom recalled his best service to the congregation was as Sunday School Superintendent with, as he said, ‘a bevy of young ladies to assist him’.