1971(Part 1)

Rev. John D. Miller, M.A., B.D.,S.T.M., who was born in Oxford, but was brought up in Kilmarnock, was inducted to Castlemilk East in January. After studying at New College, Edinburgh, he spent two years as an assistant in Edinburgh, and a year in the U.S.A., in New York. By coincidence, Rev. John's father was interim moderator when Rev. James Millar went to his first charge.


Rev. James Millar, in his letter in the church magazine, encouraged parents to instil in their children faith in themselves, faith in others and above all faith in God, and to come with them to church.

In October, 1970 and again in February 1971, teams of elders and lady visitors did a visitation to all the houses in the lower half of the parish with the exception of the Valley, which had been visited, encouraging people to come to church.

A visit from the M.P. For Cathcart, Mr Edward Taylor, a talk on Old Glasgow, and a concert by a Salvation Army Group were some of the evenings on offer in the Youth Fellowship.



The third Senior Church Members Social took place.


A work party of senior members who were tradesmen was set up, meeting on a Wednesday morning at 10a.m. to carry out repair jobs around the church. A great deal of very useful work was accomplished in a “friendly, relaxed atmosphere, complete with tea breaks”.


Because of the abnormally mild winter the roses were still budding and blooming in early February. Convener of the Gardens Committee, Mr Harry Logan was going to need help when things really got going in the Spring.


A Grand Concert was held in aid of the David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia. The admission was 15p (3/-). This was the first of many projects to help Morag in her work. Donations, large or small, could also have been sent to the manse or handed in at church.


Miss Jean Grigor, the “talented” deaconess, left at the end of May to go to Australia to take over an appointment in Melbourne. She had been in Castlemilk West since September 1963, succeeding Miss Sheena McNaughton, and although she had been in Castlemilk longer than was usual, there was despondency about her departure. She would be missed for her work among the young folk in the Sunday School, and Junior Bible Class where the average attendance was 70-80 each Sunday in this particularly difficult age group, and among the elderly and infirm in the parish. Many would remember the “happy carefree days in Craigengower”, on a holiday organised every year by Miss Grigor. There was also the Church Holiday School where literally hundreds of youngsters descended upon the church each morning for a week . Above all she would be missed because she was loved by everyone.


To mark her departure there was a special evening service, and a get-together afterwards, where she received a presentation from Angus Matheson of an inscribed New English Bible and a cheque from the congregation. Miss Irene Sinclair presented her with a brief-case from the Sunday School and Junior Bible class.
 

The Garden Fête, opened by Mr Jack House, was held in aid of the Fabric Fund instead of the Building Fund, as there was only £382 left in the Fabric Fund after two bills of £411 and £590 over the last two years. The admission was 2p for adults and 1p for children.



In 1958 at the first Garden Fête held in the grounds of Castleton School the amount raised was £330 and 2,000 people attended.


Mr Jack Girdwood, who took over the Captaincy of the Boys' Brigade at the beginning of the session 1967-68, when the Company was at a rather low ebb, resigned as he had moved to East Kilbride. In Mr Girdwood the company had a man of “wide experience of B.B matters and tremendous enthusiasm”, but also a man “with a genuine and sincere personality” and in no time at all the company was playing an important part in the life of the church and of the Boys' Brigade world in Glasgow.
Mr Girdwood did not resign before he had arranged with Mr Alex. Johnston of Rutherglen, a very experienced B.B. Officer, to take over as captain. Mr Johnston had been in his previous company, the 209th for 40 years
Under the chairman Mr McDougall, vice-chairman Mrs McKechnie, secretary Mrs Todd, treasurer Mrs Heron, and social convener Mr Todd, a newly formed Boys' Brigade Parents' Group, was set up to broaden the interest of the parents in the work of the Boys' Brigade and to provide social interests which would help the Boys' Brigade financially in its work.
The numbers in both the Company and the Junior Section increased considerably. The summer camp, under canvas, went to Bridlington in Yorkshire.

In his letter in the church magazine the minister stated, “Marriages in Castlemilk West have reached almost epidemic proportions. So many who have been so active in the organisations among the young are being married soon, and as most of them will be leaving the district, we shall be deprived of their services.” He appealed for help in the Sunday School and the Girls' Brigade.

Pupils of Glenwood Secondary raised £700 over the year for the charities, Muscular Dystrophy, Royal National Institute for the Blind, Guide dogs for the Blind and Dr Barnardos. £415 was raised during a sponsored swim in Castlemilk baths, from an initiative by Bobby McGregor, Olympic Silver Medallist. In thirty minutes, the time limit, two pupils swam 42 lengths, and the average was 25 lengths.


Pupils of Grange Secondary raised £250 for Guide Dogs for the Blind. They also raised money for the Pakistan Flood Disaster and for Oxfam.


The Parents' Club of Mitchellhill Primary invited over 100 pensioners to a concert in the school and on leaving each pensioner was presented with a parcel of groceries, which had been donated by pupils. There were also enough groceries left over to distribute to a further 60 homes of pensioners in Castlemilk.


Mr William Kent of Stravanan Road died on the 14th March. Although Mr Kent had not been a well man since his service in the R.A.S.C. during the war, where he took part in the D-Day Landings in Normandy, he was keenly interested in the life of the church. He contributed articles on several occasions to the Crusader. Willie was an elder in London Road Church in 1945, and in Springburnhill Church, from where he moved to Castlemilk and became an elder in Castlemilk West in 1963.


Mr Hugh Gilchrist, a popular elder of Arnprior Quad., died on 28th April. Although a member of Kinning Park Church in his earlier years it was only in November 1964 he became an elder in Castlemilk West. He was always a willing worker on the Congregational Board, where his skill as a joiner proved very useful, and on the Kirk Session until he took ill. Hugh was one of the men who ventured on to the roof of the church at the time of the storm to make emergency repairs. “Hugh will be long remembered in Castlemilk West, not only for his friendly, obliging nature, but also for his fine Christian witness and example”.

Since the situation in Livingstonia was so desperate, a group was set up called the Livingstonia Mission Hospital Group to “alleviate the burden laid on Morag and her colleagues” by providing medical equipment and material goods for the hospital and the community in Livingstonia. Two concerts were held and an 8 mile sponsored stroll took place from Castlemilk via Carmunnock and Busby to Clarkston, and back through Linn Park. 70 members of the congregation took part in the stroll and Mr and Mrs Barker provided tea and home-baked cakes in their garden at the halfway point in Busby. Mrs Warnock and Mrs Bert Grant served tea and sandwiches to the walkers on their return to the church hall. £168 was raised. In October a Mini-Market was held and more than £30 was realised for the Hospital Fund. In September, 13 parcels were sent out to Morag from the congregation and at the time Morag's mother was on a five week visit, having taken with her £150 which would purchase necessary equipment.