News

Parish News

Thursday November 11 2021

Our regular round-up of news received from churches

Send items of parish news to magazine@lifeandwork.org. All submissions will also be considered for the magazine, but we are unable to print everything we receive.
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***Please note: people shown in photos must be complying with the guidance on distancing and the wearing of face masks in churches, that was in effect at the time the picture was taken***

Local schoolchildren helped to plant a tree of remembrance as a living memorial to all that’s been lost in the Cramond area of Edinburgh through Covid-19.

Over the next year, local organisations will plant more trees and bulbs as focal points for remembrance, in an initiative called Cramond Commemorates.

The first tree - a Sessile oak - was planted outside Cramond Kirk Halls. As the project rolls out, it’s hoped to involve more families, individuals, and community groups, as well as Cramond Kirk and local schools, in providing trees and bulbs for public spaces and gardens in the area.

“COVID-19 has inflicted pain and loss on many through illness and death. And social isolation and restrictions have taken their toll on people of all ages,” said Stuart Richardson, chair of the Cramond Commemorates project. “It’s important to have somewhere to go, where people can reflect, remember, grieve, or celebrate a loved one’s life. Hopefully they will find solace in the act of planting beautiful living memorials in Cramond, Barnton and Cammo.”

An extension to one of the oldest active church buildings in Scotland was officially opened last month. The ACE (Arbuthnott Church Extension) Project provided a disabled toilet and small kitchenette on Arbuthnott Church, Aberdeenshire.

Arbuthnott, which is nearly 800 years old, is part of a church union with Bervie and Kinneff, known as ABK Church.

The work to provide facilities at the church was inspired after then locum minister, the Rev Linda Broadley, was embarrassed to tell a visitor to a family baptism that they didn’t have a toilet. It has taken a number of years of fundraising and grant applications, and was completed during lockdown.

Linda has since moved on to Orkney, but she was invited back to cut the ribbon on the new facilities, which were opened at the church’s Harvest Festival.

ABK Church minister, the Rev Andrew Morrison, paid tribute to the work of Arbuthnott elder Hugh Black, who sadly died last year; and ABK property convenor Tom Campbell in bringing the project to fruition. He said: “Our prayer is that these new facilities will ensure our building has more capability in helping us reach out with the Good News of Jesus.”

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