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Eric Liddell Centre Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Tuesday November 17 2020

Major Edinburgh care charity and community hub, the Eric Liddell Centre will celebrate its 40th anniversary on November 26.

The virtual event will feature an exciting range of internationally renowned speakers – award-winning broadcaster and author Sally Magnusson, internationally celebrated author and Patron of the Eric Liddell Centre, Alexander McCall Smith CBE and world-famous Scottish composer and conductor Sir James MacMillan.

The three VIP guests will all contribute to the celebrations with poetry, music and recognition of Eric Liddell’s achievements. There will also be a panel discussion and a question and answer session about the work of the centre. Eric Liddell’s daughter Patricia will be one of the participants live from her home in Canada.

There will also be a range of musical interludes featuring some of Sir James MacMillan’s music, new poems from Alexander McCall Smith and highlighting the talents of local school pupils from George Watson’s College.

The Eric Liddell Centre was established by a steering group, founded in 1978, bringing together four churches in the Morningside area of Edinburgh: North Morningside Parish Church, Christ Church, Morningside Baptist and Morningside Congregational Church, where the athlete and missionary Eric Liddell was a member and taught Bible class.

With North Morningside merging with the Congregational Church to become Morningside United Church, the parish church building was available. The Holy Corner Church Centre was inaugurated in 1980, purchasing the building the following year. It was renamed the Eric Liddell Centre in the late 1980s, when an appeal was launched to refurbish the building into a centre that would serve the community into the 21st century.

The centre is now a care charity and community hub, providing specialist dementia support, a carers programme and befriending service. It has provided key support to vulnerable people across Edinburgh for 40 years and has been leading through its expertise to change perceptions of living with dementia, disabilities and mental health issues.

Following recent developments and changes to national guidelines linked to Covid-19, the charity made the decision to cancel the plans for a physical gathering to mark its anniversary, but to continue with an online event via Zoom.

John MacMillan, Chief Executive of the Eric Liddell Centre said: “I’m delighted that my brother, Sir James, Sally and Alexander have kindly agreed to participate in our 40th Anniversary Celebration. The Eric Liddell Centre has made a positive difference to the lives of many people in Edinburgh, especially those living with dementia. I am so pleased that our three guests and Eric Liddell’s daughter Patricia will be joining us to celebrate the work and achievements of the centre over the last 40 years.”

The 40th Anniversary Celebration takes place on Thursday November 26 at 7pm. Tickets cost £40 per log on and are available to book via Eventbrite.

All proceeds will support the ongoing delivery of the Eric Liddell Centre’s services.

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