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Parish News

Thursday October 11 2018

 

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. Please check the quality of your pictures: images which are too small, 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.

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Following an earlier Heritage Lottery Fund development grant of almost £25,000 to Brechin's Gardner Memorial Church, Historic Environment Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund have jointly agreed to a further award of almost £220,000 for essential repairs and heritage promotion in connection with the Gardner's Repair & Renewal Project.

The Project aims to secure the future of this ‘A' listed building within the Brechin Conservation Area and the heart of the town for the benefit of the whole community.

The project will carry out essential conservation work; provide interpretive material and new digital access to the building, enabling visitors to better understand its unique detail and the wider community to participate in a variety of related heritage activities.

The church was designed in the American Romanesque / Arts and Crafts style by Sir John James Burnet, a contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and was designated 1896 building of the year by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).


A service was held in Townhill and Kingseat Parish Church, Fife, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ordination of the Rev Mary Morrison.

Mary was the first female minister of Word and Sacrament in Dunfermline Presbytery.

She is pictured with the Rev Peter Neilson, who preached at the service, and the Townhill and Kingseat’s current minister, the Rev Jean Kirkwood.


The Guild of Newtonhill Kirk, in the Presbytery of Kincardine and Deeside, celebrated its 30th birthday at the end of September.

The programme for the evening had a photograph of the original members on the back page and it was encouraging to see that a similar number attended the 30th anniversary meeting. Another link to the first meeting was made with a letter of blessing and good wishes from the Rev Jim Simpson, the minister of Newtonhill at the time the Guild was started.

Three members who had been there for the full 30 years - Pauline Platt, Joan McNaught (the founding president) and Margaret Brooks – were presented with long service certificates.

The speaker, the Rev Shuna Dicks of Cults Parish Church, gave a talk on her journey into the ministry.


Dr Iain Galbraith celebrated 60 years as an organist in the Church of Scotland recently at Alexandria Parish Church, in the Presbytery of Dumbarton.

To mark the anniversary the Rev Liz Houston presented him with a gift on behalf o the congregation.

At the same time, Dr Galbraith’s archive of photographs and research on stained glass windows in Scottish churches was received and dedicated by the church. Dr Galbraith is a recognised authority on stained glass in Scotland and his work, which spans 40 years, has been accepted into the National Archives of Scotland. He has donated it to the church along with a cabinet he had commissioned to store it.

Dr Galbraith is also an elder, lay reader and recently Moderator of the Presbytery.


 

The Scots International Church in Rotterdam celebrated its 375th anniversary last month with a special service, attended by the Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rt Rev Susan Brown, and Peter Wilson, British ambassador to the Netherlands.

The church’s own minister, the Rev Derek Lawson (also Moderator of the International Presbytery) was also joined by the oldest surviving former minister, the Rev John Russell, and members of the International Presbytery from both Brussels and Bochum.

As the church is an international one, people from different countries were present, many wearing colourful national dress.

As part of the celebrations a booklet, Looking Forward, Looking Back, was published.

One special picture was taken shortly before the service, recreating a picture taken when the present building was dedicated by the then Moderator, the Rt Rev George Johnstone Jeffrey in 1952. The 2018 remake features (left to right) Ben van der Veen (who has in years past taken services in the Scots Kirk), the Rev Joost Pot (retired Auxiliary Minister), the Rev Irene Bom (OLM, Rotterdam), former minister the Rev John Russell, the Rev Derek Lawson and the Rt Rev Susan Brown.

The Scots Kirk was founded in 1643 for the many Scottish merchants, sailors and soldiers who lived in Rotterdam.


 


Parish News

Parish News

Several significant anniversaries and a major funding boost in this week's round-up.

Read More   >

Parish News

Parish News

Several significant anniversaries and a major funding boost in this week's round-up.

Read More   >

Parish News

Parish News

Several significant anniversaries and a major funding boost in this week's round-up.

Read More   >


Comments

Mary Morrison - Tuesday, December 11th, 2018

“Townhill and Kingseat churches gave me a very happy day among familiar church people, friends and family. Thank you for publishing the photo”


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