Congregation will 'bounce back' from fire

The minister of a Kirkintilloch church says the congregation will ‘bounce back’ after the building was severely fire-damaged yesterday (Thursday).

The fire at Hillhead Parish Church was discovered in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The Minister, the Rev Lily McKinnon, said: “They called the Session Clerk at 3am. I’d been away at a family funeral, but I was up at the church by about 8am and we had the loss adjusters and the police and everybody else to deal with, so it was a busy day.

“There is a lot of damage. There’s no roof on one side, we lost the kitchen completely, a new gas boiler, all the toilets, the vestibule and probably the floor in the church itself. There is so much water damage as well. It will be weeks and weeks until we get back in.

“The sad thing is we are the ground floor of a sheltered housing complex, with two flats above us, and unfortunately those elderly folk had to be evacuated. There are no injuries, and we’re very grateful for that, but it must have been such a fright for them in the middle of the night.”

The Hillhead congregation will look to rent a space in Hillhead for worship while the church is repaired, but this Sunday would take up one of the many invitations they have had to join other congregations in the area.

The Hillhead congregation is well used to being without its building, having had three years worshipping in a local school while the current church was built; and then having to leave again after the roof fell in, and another time when they suffered flooding.

“But they’re a great congregation,” added Lily. “They’ll bounce back, it’ll bring everyone closer together.”

Post Tags: kirkintilloch, fire

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