Parish News Round-up

Thursday May 19

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. Digital photographs should not be reduced. Please check the quality of your pictures: images which are 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.

Houston and Killellan Kirk was packed for the opening and dedication of the Killellan Halls by the Very Rev John Chalmers. The service, conducted by the Rev Donald Campbell, was attended by guests including previous ministers, representatives of the Donors to the Building Fund, the design team and builders.

The 140^th anniversary of the first service in the church was also commemorated.

The Killellan Halls are an addition to the east end of the church and extend over the existing graveyard. A system of driven piles, avoiding the gravestones, was used to provide the foundations.

To enable the extension to be linked to the main wall of the church, the organ loft tower and vestry were partially demolished, replaced by a full height glazed atrium, which will be used to display historic local and kirk artefacts.

The total cost of the halls was about £700,000, of which over £500,000 has been raised or pledged by the congregation and the local community. The General Trustees supported the project by funding a feasibility study and providing a grant and a loan for the build.

Members of the congregation of Alexandria Parish Church and friends met together at Easter to celebrate the publication of a new book produced by their minister, the Rev Liz Houston, and their organist, Dr Iain Galbraith. Dr Galbraith,who is Moderator of the Presbytery of Dumbarton , is an authority on the stained glass windows of Scottish churches and his work on this is held in the National Archives of Scotland. He has gathered together 30 beautiful photographs of stained glass windows for this book. The Rev.Liz Houston has written a meditation for each photograph.

The book is available from the church website, ‪www.alexandriaparishchurch.co.uk, and costs £9 including postage.

A successful fun day was held in the village of Drymen, near Loch Lomond, to mark the launch of a partnership between the local parish church and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). The event marks the start of a year-long partnership between MAF and Drymen Church of Scotland, raising funds and awareness to help remote communities facing hardship in South Sudan.

MAF will also be at Heart and Soul, this Sunday in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens.

As part of Christian Aid Week, children from Bonaly Primary School in Edinburgh have been learning about 'Wonderful Worms' and how they help people in flood prone Bangladesh grow food. They also looked at how water affects people around the world. 
Pictured: Fiona Buchanan, Youth Development Officer for Christian Aid (and outreach worker for the Church of Scotland), Gayle Taylor, Associate Minister for Children and Youth at Colinton Parish Church, and Bonaly Primary pupils Hannah Steel, Finlay Ross and Aimie Clark.

A Church of Scotland minister called David Cameron has begun sponsoring a child in Kenya… called Barack Obama. Full story at the Edinburgh Evening News.

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