Kiltarlity and Kirkhill Churches

News

Kobus’s official day of rest is a Monday each week, but if an emergency arises on that day, please do not hesitate to contact him at the Wardlaw Manse.

Kobus and Louisa extend a very warm welcome to any member of both congregations to drop by and visit them at the Wardlaw Manse for a chat and a cup of tea or coffee and, hopefully, sample Louisa's home baking.

Kiltarlity Tea-towels and Bags

TEA TOWELS AND CANVAS BAGS ARE STILL AVAILABLE FROM TOMNACROSS CHURCH

Simply pick up a tea towel, or bag, from the table in the Tomnacross Church entrance and drop your money into the box, or contact David Garvie on 741038.

TEA TOWELS are £6 each, or 2 for £10

CANVAS BAGS are £3 each

All profits to the Tomnacross Raise the Roof appeal.

Keep the Home Fires Burning

The old floor boards from Wardlaw Church that did not have dry rot have been kept by the west side of the Church. Graham Elkin and his trusty chain saw will be cutting the boards into lengths suitable for putting on an open fire, or a wood burning stove during January (weather permitting). If you, or if you know of a neighbour living in Kirkhill and Bunchrew, who would benefit from this heat source, please contact Graham – 831590 – who will arrange a bag or two for you to collect or a delivery service is available.

Buy a Part of Kiltarlity Church!

Buy a part of Kiltarlity Church for your family or for your friends.

£3 will buy you a new slate for the Church Roof and you will receive
an attractive ownership certificate to put in their Christmas stocking.

Contact Louise Watson (741876) without delay or simply add your name, collect a certificate, and drop your money in the box at Tomnacross Church!

Open the Book at Tomnacross Primary

The Open the Book Team have been invited by Mrs Josephine Offord, Head teacher, Tomnacross Primary to present their programme to her P1 - 4 pupils. Our aim is to start after the February break and visit the school regularly.

Open the Book is a programme designed for primary age children and which uses the Lion Story Storytellers Bible. It aims to deliver the stories and message of The Bible through narration, mime and acting and with the help of some costumes and props.

Open the Book is already working very successfully in Kirkhill Primary with a dedicated team of volunteers from both the Kirkhill and Kiltarlity communities. To deliver it in both schools we need more volunteers especially to work in Tomnacross Primary. The existing volunteers would tell you that you don’t need to be an actor but that you do need to believe that telling our children the stories and message of the Bible is of the utmost importance. It is an activity which is great fun and very worthwhile for those who are comfortable working with this age group.

If you think you would like to take part, or want to find out more, contact Ellenor (741330) at Kiltarlity, or Flora (831373) at Kirkhill and they would be delighted to hear from you.

To help with planning please try to contact us before 15th January 2012

Our Daily Bread

Copies of the December / January / February booklet “Our Daily Bread” are still available at the entrance to the Wardlaw Church. Please take one to read daily.

There are also a few extra copies of the Introductory Version if you feel you would like to introduce a friend, a neighbour, or a relative to this booklet.

If you find this devotional helpful, you can use the form in the middle of the booklet to arrange to have future issues posted direct to you at home.

Moderator Designate of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 2012 is...

The founder of an international interdenominational charity that helps street children has been chosen to be the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Reverend Albert Bogle, Minister at St Andrew’s Parish Church in Bo’ness, has been nominated as Moderator Designate by the Church of Scotland’s Committee to Nominate the Moderator of the General Assembly.

As well as preaching his ministry in Bo’ness Mr Bogle has served the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in various roles from 1983 sitting on the Panel of Worship to being convener of the Kirk’s “Church without Walls” Planning Group from 2004 to 2009. He is currently a member of the World Mission Future Strategy Group.

Rev. Bogle is married to Martha and the couple have a son and daughter. Rev. Bogle takes up the position of Moderator at the meeting of the General Assembly which starts on 19th May 2012.

Kiltarlity Church Roof Repairs

Many of you know that it has become necessary to carry out extensive work to the roof of our Church. This work is about to begin and over the next few weeks scaffolding will appear around the church and the work will begin. This will not affect the operation of the church in any way and services will continue as normal.

The cost of these works is approaching £50,000 and despite our best efforts, the Deacons’ Court has been unable to secure any funding for this, either from grants or from the central Church of Scotland fabric fund. As a result, we will have to meet the cost of this out of our own funds, and £50,000 is not a small sum for a church of our size. We do currently have sufficient funds to cover this, but these funds are being diminished at a rate of £5,000 each year, giving us about 8 years before we run out of money.

As a result, we are launching an appeal to all members of the community to encourage people to make whatever contribution they are able in order to safeguard our church. You will shortly be receiving a letter from Kobus, explaining the financial situation in more detail and setting out how you can contribute, if you so wish.

We have already received a significant boost from Ann Gloag. Ann has very generously offered to match, pound for pound, all money raised by the congregation or the community. This provides a real boost for our fundraising efforts, effectively meaning that we double the value of all money we can raise ourselves.

Please do give some thought as to if and how you might be able to contribute – we have a lovely church building and we all want to continue to enjoy using it.

Ian Morrison – Treasurer

Highland Food Bank

Thank you to all members of the both congregations who gave generously to the Highland Bank April Appeal. Donations, financial or food wise, can be made at any time of year to this local charity via both Churches

Margaret Birkbeck – 831518
Elizabeth Fraser – 783080

The Parishioner Archives

The January copy of The Parishioner is now available and can be downloaded here. Older versions are also available:

December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008

Church Intimations

If any member of the congregation wishes an announcement to be made prior to any Sunday Service at either church, please contact Rev Kobus Smit (Kirkhill) or David Garvie (Kiltarlity) before 3pm on the Saturday before they wish the announcement to be made. Contact can be by telephone (Kobus - 831662; David - 741038) or e-mail.

History of the Church of Scotland

Over the past few months we have been publishing a series of articles, sourced from the BBC, on the Church of Scotland. The full list of articles appears below:

Church of Scotland 1
Church of Scotland 2
Church of Scotland 3
Church of Scotland 4
Church of Scotland 5
Church of Scotland 6

Church Flowers - Kiltarlity

You may enjoy arranging flowers or wish to place flowers in the church for a special anniversary or occasion. Or you may prefer to donate flowers and have someone else to do the arranging.

The flower list for 2011 is now on our church notice board for you to enter your name and telephone number against the dates of your choice. Flowers last well in the church and it is feasible to book a two week slot.

New donors / arrangers are welcome. Any further information, please contact : Barbara Wilton (741352) or Marie Harvey (741328). A church key is available from Barbara Wilton if required.

Grateful thanks to all our flower donors / arrangers who made our church welcoming with their beautiful flowers in 2009.

Church Flowers - Kirkhill

If you wish to put flowers in the Church on a particular Sunday that is special to you, please enter your name and telephone number against the date(s) of your choice on the flower list calendar for 2011 in the church vestibule. Anne Lyle can be contacted on 831453, if you wish her to choose and arrange your flowers. Alternatively you may give Anne money to buy flowers for “free” Sundays.

Should you wish to deal with the flowers yourself, do remember that arrangements are lovely but a simple bunch in one of the church vases will be more than acceptable.

Thank you to everyone who contributed with flowers or funds during the last year!

The Kiltarlity and Kirkhill 'Celestial Choir'

The members of the choir are:
Debbie Ross, Avril Marr, Ethna Ferguson, Elizabeth Piesse, Marie Harvey, Margaret West, Pat Jones, Sarah Cameron, Mary Bell, Lynn Fraser, Julie Fraser, Margo Maclennan, Jacqui Wilton, Ellenor Thomas, Wilma Williamson, Maureen Matheson, Jean MacLean, Vivien Reid, Willis Jones, Ian Morrison, George Fraser, Malcolm Fraser, Jock Fraser.

Kirkhill Parish History

There are two new books on the Kirkhill parish history and the areas that surround it available for purchase. The books are compiled by Mr H. W. Harrison. Volume one covers the Parish, estates, infrastructure and occupations, whilst volume two covers the townships. The books cost £25 for each volume. Neither Kilmorack Heritage, who have agreed to act as the agent responsible for selling and ordering the books, or Mr Harrison, wish to make a profit from the books, so the Kirkhill Church Development Fund will benefit between £5 and £6 from the sale of each book. Please order from Jim Ogilvie, the Secretary of the Community Council, at 22 Newton Park, Kirkhill or telephone 831316. Please make your cheques payable to either Kirkhill and Bunchrew Community Council, or Kilmorack Heritage.

'Kirkhill' vs 'Wardlaw' Church!

Readers may have noted that Kirkhill Church has been referred to as Wardlaw Church in the past few editions. This has come about following the research that was carried out for the sign writing of the new Church notice board. The old board, erected in the early 1960s, referred to the church building as Wardlaw Church. The book "The Kirk in Kirkhill" by C.I.M. Gair and Hugh Barron, published in 1990, makes mention of three places of worship in the Kirkhill parish. The three were: Wardlaw Church, St Mary’s Church and Bunchrew Mission Church.

St Mary’s Church at Dukefield was originally built as a United Free Church in 1844, and rebuilt in 1909, and was known as Kirkhill Church. On 2 October 1929, a union between the United Free Church and the Church of Scotland was declared. This union of 1929 created a problem of nomenclature, now there were two churches of the same denomination within the parish. The U.F. Church decided to rename their building at Dukefield "St Mary’s" – a reference to the Gaelic name of the parish, "Sgire Mhoire," or "the parish of St Mary". St Mary’s was sold in 1975 for £5,000 and became a soap factory, and is now a successful art gallery, Inchmore Gallery.

Bunchrew Mission Church was sold in August 1989, with planning permission for a change of use to a dwelling house.

This just now leaves the one building, Wardlaw Church, as the sole church in the parish of Kirkhill.

The book "The Kirk in Kirkhill" by C.I.M. Gair and Hugh Barron is available for purchase at £5 – see Maris Elkin.

Kirkhill Elders and Their Districts

As mentioned in Willis’s letter, the Kirkhill elders will be visiting church members before the next Communion Sunday in May. The elders, with a rough approximation of their districts are listed below, but if further information is required, please contact Willis Jones, Maris Elkin or Rosemary Mortimer.

Mary Bell	Kirkhill – St. Mary’s Road, Wardlaw Road
Maris Elkin	Kirkhill – Newton Park, Groam Crescent
Simon Fraser	Kirkhill – Mansefield Park, Cononbank
John Angus MacDonald	Newton Park
Avril Marr	Lentran, Drumchardine
Iain Marr	Lentran, Lentran House, also some Kirkhill addresses
Iain Mortimer	Cabrich, Moniack, Muirton of Clunes
Rosemary Mortimer	Beauly

Web Site

This web site for our churches was designed and set up by our Interim Moderator, Rev. Reg Campbell. It is now being maintained by a team of people across both churches and they would value any comments that you may have about it. A web site is always in the state of being further developed and it needs your input to make it truly worthwhile. If you have any suggestions for improvement or would simply like some news or events added then please contact any of the web site team listed on the Contacts page.