News in Brief
St John's Goes Global
The church website was re-launched on 10 December 2004. Since then, the site has been visited by folk from all over the world, including Austria, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Thailand, Brazil, Finland, Israel and, of course, the UK.
Senior Elder Dies
John (Jack) Lachlan died on 11 December 2004. At the time of his death, he was our senior elder. A fuller obituary can be read here.
Shindig 2
The second annual Congregational Christmas Party - or Shindig - was held in the Large Hall on Sunday evening, 19 December. Although numbers were smaller than last year's inaugural event, those who attended enjoyed an evening of games, quizzes, and dancing. Refreshments were provided by outside caterers, and everyone agreed that the quality was very high. Musical and Scottish Country Dancing items were provided by two of our young people.
The evening was rounded off with communal carol singing and already mention has been made of Shindig 3 - watch this space!
Retiral Offerings
Retiring offerings from the December Communion and Watchnight services raised a total of £400 which was donated to the Emmanuel Healthcare Christmas appeal for Mulanje Mission Hospital, Malawi. A letter had been received from Emmanuel Healthcare acknowledging, with thanks, the donation. It concludes:
New Year Joint Service
Members of all three Church of Scotland congregations - Kirkton, St Andrew's and St John's - met in St Andrew's church to share in worship on the first Sunday of the New Year.
This is the second year that the joint service has been held, and it is hoped that it will become an annual event. A retiral collection was taken, to be sent to the Asian Tsunami Appeal
Murrays Safe from Tsunami Effects
In their January newsletter, Scott and Nok Murray - our friends in Thailand - report that they and their family are unscathed by the Tsunami which caused such loss of life and damage on Boxing Day. (more in World Mission Report)
Trekkers Step Out
Despite the recent (and continuing) wet weather, a hardy band of ten Trekkers braved the elements on 8 January to walk the circuit of Chatelherault Country Park. The walk, normally a reasonably gentle stroll covering both sides of the River Avon in about 2 hours, had an extra element of adventure this time when it was discovered that access to the Green Bridge, half way round the walk, had been cut off by flood water. It was clear that other walkers had encountered this problem and had blazed a trail through undergrowth and mud to skirt the flood and so reach the bridge. Undaunted, our intrepid ten fought their way through brier and mire and so gained the bridge. No one was lost.
The next planned outing of the Trekkers is on Saturday 19 March to the Pentland Hills. Meet, as usual, at the church at 9:00am.
Bread and Cheese Lunch
On February 6, we held a bread and cheese lunch to raise funds in aid of the Asian Tsunami appeal. Read more here.
Congratulations
Will Storrar, minister of St John's between 1985 and 1991, has been appointed as Director of an advanced theological research centre at Princeton University in New Jersey, USA. We send our congratulations to Will, who is fondly remembered by all who knew him during his ministry here and wish him and Joanna every blessing in this new post, which begins in July.
