News

Parish News Round-up

Thursday February 7 2019

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.

A Greenock congregation has dedicated a plaque in memory of the founder of a South African school with which they have a long-standing relationship.

The plaque in memory of Sue Anne Cook (left), founder of Vhutshuli Mountain School in Limpopo, Venda, was dedicated by the Rev Karen Harbison during morning worship at Westburn Parish Church on January 20. It will be placed in the church’s memorial garden. After the service, a soup and sandwich lunch was provided by Friends of Venda, raising approximately £800 to support the ongoing work of the school.

Vhutshuli Mountain School focuses on educating and supporting children and teenagers living with HIV. Westburn has had a connection with the school for nearly 20 years, since Fraser McNeill, a pupil of Greenock Academy whose family attended what was then Greenock St Luke's Church, visited Venda on a gap year. At the time Sue Anne had converted her mobile home to include a classroom, her pick-up became the school bus, and friends and local businesses donated clothes, furniture and food.

The Presbytery of Greenock embarked on a fundraising programme which raised nearly £20,000, enough to build a fully-equipped two-classroom school. The school officially opened in April 2005 and representatives from Greenock attended the ceremony.

The school has flourished since, building a strong reputation for primary education and an outreach programme ensuring that children are cared-for at home as well.

Sue Anne’s health deteriorated during the second half of 2018 and she passed away in November, sadly missed by many, especially her adopted daughter Wahvoo who was one of the first eight children educated in the caravan and now studies at the University of Pretoria. By coincidence, Fraser McNeill is now a Professor of Anthropology at the same university, and continues to support the work of the school. His parents still attend Westburn Church and are members of the Friends of Venda group.

Duntocher Trinity Guild’s elders, Eddie Pretty and Colin Dow, sporting Guild ties presented to them as part of the group’s 125^th anniversary celebrations. The Guild also gave donations of £125 to the church’s Girls Brigade, Glasgow City Mission, Christian Aid and the Bible Society.

Kinross Parish Church had a multiple celebration during morning worship recently.

Stuart Neave was ordained as a new elder and he and Alan McGhie were admitted to the Kirk Session. The service also included the acknowledgement and celebration of Rev Alan Reid’s 10 years as the kirk’s minister and Norman White’s 40 years as an elder in the Kinross church, many of them in leadership roles. In addition, a certificate was presented to Lynn Caldwell, leader of the Junior Church, who has been approved as a Safeguarding trainer for the Presbytery of Perth.

Also celebrated was the service of Rev Clifford Kelly who was ordained over 60 years ago. He gave the congregation a thumbnail sketch of his journey in spreading the Good News, thanked all the support he had received from his wife Johan, his family and all the office bearers and members in his various parishes before leading the congregation in prayer.

Session Clerk Jaffrey Weir said: “These people provide an example to all of us of commitment, service and faith in spreading the Good News of our Lord”.

Pictured from left: Alan McGhie, Norman White, the Rev Alan Reid, Lynn Caldwell, the Rev Clifford Kelly, Stuart Neave.

James E Armstrong was presented with a long service certificate marking 51 years’ of service at St Andrew’s Wallace Green Church, Berwick-upon-Tweed, on Sunday January 27. He is pictured receiving the certificate from the church’s minister, the Rev Dr Adam Hood.