1967(Part 2)

Mr John McKechnie, who joined the Board in 1960 became an elder in Castlemilk West in 1961 and the Church Roll keeper in 1963. He had been ordained an elder in the McMillan-Calton Church in London Road in 1955.


Many of the young people who had been trained for leadership in the church were now getting married and moving to other parts of the city. Because of this the Kirk Session appealed for men and women to help in the organisations and the Sunday School.


There was still £3000 left to pay of the outstanding debt on the church buildings, and it was hoped to pay this off by 1968. To this end a “Grand Christmas Fayre” was held. There was a Dance in the evening, with a buffet tea, and the cost of a ticket was 5/-.


The church magazine, the Castlemilk Crusader, was 10 years old. The circulation was 3,250, from 2,000 when it started, and there had been 30 issues. Kilgours of Aikenhead Road who had advertised in the first issue were still advertising.


Rev. Raymond Hunt B.D. who was the first assistant in 1957 had been unanimously elected as minister of Clepington Parish Church in Dundee, having moved on from South Church in Buckie.


The recording of popular hymns by members of the Woman's Guild for broadcasting over the loud-speaker system was a tremendous success, and other organisations were to make recordings in the future.


Another group had a great time in Tighnabruaich, at Craigengower Church of Scotland Home. The weather was glorious and there was a fishing trip and a sail to Arran.


A new Church of Scotland charge, St Ninian's, was opened south of the border in Corby, Northants. The first congregation began in the 1930s when Messrs Stewarts and Lloyds, the steel manufacturers set up an establishment, and now about half the population of 40,000 were Scots.


Many young leaders had moved from the district after marriage, and a debt of gratitude was owed to them. The result was frequent changes in the leadership of organisations. This situation could only be remedied by older more settled people taking charge of the organisations.

Mr Bill Strain of Croftfoot was the successor to Mr John Lawrence as Session Clerk. He had previously lived in Birgidale Road. Bill had come to the church in 1959 from Elderpark Parish in Govan, where he had been Sunday School Superintendent and Scout Leader. He had been ordained as an elder in 1958. In Castlemilk West he had been Leader of the Junior Sunday School, Building Fund Convener, Property Convener and Presbytery Elder “to mention only a few jobs he had undertaken”. Mr and Mrs Strain had three of a family, Billy (7), Joyce (3) and Alan (16months) in 1967.

Mr Jack Girdwood took over the Captaincy of the 18th Company of the Boys' Brigade from Mr David Carrick who had served in the company since its inception. Mr Girdwood was a member of Cathcart Baptist Church and a Leader in the Christian Endeavour Society. He had been in the B.B. since 1939, having been Captain of 178 Glasgow Company and, during a short stay in Fife had formed the 2nd Glenrothes Company and been Mid-Fife Battalion Training Officer. Messrs James Campbell, Robert Dunbar, Derek Gordon, Donald Neilson and George Wright would assist him in the 18th Company.



74A Company of the Girls' Brigade lost two “very fine” leaders in Miss Anne Grindlay and Miss Florence McIlhinney, both of whom had married and moved to another part of the city. Mrs John Smith of Simshill, a former leader of 74B Company, assisted by Miss Mairi Dick and the Misses Jacqueline and Marilyn Deas, stepped into the breach.
 

74B Company remained unchanged under the leadership of Miss Anne McLay, assisted by the Misses Ena and Isobel Thomson and Miss Irene Sinclair. Miss Joan Young had left at the end of the previous session.



In 1966 Miss Margaret Morton (now Mrs Bailey) had had to resign the leadership of the Junior Boys' Brigade because of transport difficulties after her marriage, and Misses Margaret and Dorothy Robertson had resigned at the same time – all three after long, invaluable service. Mr William Shields junior, a former officer of the 18th Company of the Boys' Brigade and first member of the company to win the Queen's Badge, took over the leadership, assisted by Messrs Graham Wilson and James Symon, Misses Joan Sherriff and Isobel Barr, and Mrs I. McDonald. Misses V. McKinlay and V. Miller had left before the start of the new session.


Miss Helen McLachlan of Birgidale Avenue, daughter of Mrs McLachlan and of the late Mr Alex. McLachlan, an elder and enthusiastic worker in the church for many years, passed her final exams as Welfare Officer to the Blind, and was appointed to a district in Glasgow. Helen was a Sunday School teacher in Castleton Primary Sunday School.


Miss Edna Steele of Dougrie Road took up an appointment as house-mother in the Langlands Park Approved School for Girls at Port Glasgow, a school run under the auspices of the Church of Scotland Social and Moral Welfare Department. Already employed there as supervisor was Miss Sandra Dane, also of Dougrie Road. Both girls had been Sunday School teachers and active in the Youth Club and Fellowship.


Miss Veronica Miller of Dougrie Terrace, until recently a Sunday School teacher and leader in the Junior B.B., was employed at NATO Headquarters as a secretary and had been going along to the Scots Kirk in Paris, which the Rev. Donald Caskie had made famous in his book, “The Tartan Pimpernel”. Veronica had previously won the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.


The Youth Club were charging an annual subscription of 5/- and a weekly admission fee of 6d, as they were now having speakers for part of each evening, in order to encourage greater numbers of young people in the church to attend.


The Hewitt family set off for Whyalla, in Southern Australia, at a great loss to Castlemilk West. Matt, the father had been an elder and Halls Convener for several years and had taught in the Sunday School. Mrs Hewitt was a Guild member and teacher in the Beginners' while Sandra taught in the Primary Sunday School. Matthew junior could be relied upon to deliver 300 to 400 copies of the Castlemilk Crusader each edition. There were also the younger Hewitts, Elizabeth, Susan and Heather.


40 boys had enrolled in the Boys' Brigade and knocking at a few doors the numbers had grown to nearly 70. To help with the church's Christmas Fayre and B.B Week, car cleaning at 5/- per car and a sponsored hike at 6d a mile were undertaken and £76 was collected for B.B Week, the highest amount (£3 15/-) being collected by Cpl Ian Barnes.