1973
During the previous thirty years the material wealth of the people of this country had increased more rapidly than in any comparable period in its history, and from that it was to be assumed that the inhabitants of the country would have been happier, more contented and more amenable to law and order. The article in the Crusader, the church magazine, “Life in the Seventies: How the Church Must Act” stated that this was certainly not the case, and in fact, since the war, discontent and law-breaking had been prominent features of the British way of life. Dishonesty, thieving, vandalism, drug-taking, crimes of violence, strikes, murder were all commonplace. To account for this sociologists had advanced that broken homes, large housing schemes without social amenities, mothers of young children out working, violence and filth on T.V. were to blame. They may well be contributing factors, said the article, but a deeper and more important cause was behind it. People had been turning their backs on religion, under the impression that they could manage without God. Children had been growing up for years without having been taught the basic principles of life, and many of the young people were unaware of what was right or wrong. The article stated that children must be trained in the Christian way of life, and church members were encouraged to search their conscience to see if they could help in the Sunday School or in the youth organisations. People should stop sitting on the fence, and if they regarded themselves as Christian they should come to church and everybody should act against the powers of darkness seeking to envelop the country.
The Church of Scotland was involved in plans to bring a group of severely disabled children from Northern Ireland, away from the fear and the rumours and in some cases the gunfire, to have an all-expenses paid holiday in Scotland.
A “Silver Envelope Scheme realised the sum of £56 for the David Gordon Memorial Hospital and 18 parcels of clothing were sent off to the hospital by the Livingstonia Committee. A Beetle Drive raised £12, and the next Sponsored Stroll was to Cathkin Braes and was just over 7 miles. It raised £140. Blankets, etc. were being made from odd bits of wool, and clothing for babies or young children could be handed in at the church. Morag was coming home for a holiday in August, and a Welcome Home Social was to be held in September.
Miss Linda Johnston, one of the younger church members passed her final nursing exam and now held a Registered General and Orthopaedic Nursing Certificate. Linda was the daughter of Mr Bert Johnston, an elder and Mrs Johnston, who used to live in Glenacre Quadrant before they moved to Toryglen. Miss Johnston was to be married in Castlemilk West later in the year.
Mr and Mrs James Wilson of Dunagoil Road, members of the church, celebrated their Golden Wedding on the 1st February.
The Junior Section of the Boys' Brigade had about 60 boys turning up each Tuesday night, and in January the Company went to see the pantomime, “Aladdin”. The Company offered classes in First Aid, Expedition and Hobbies, along with the Target Scheme. George Bilsland, Graeme Downie,, Iain MacPherson, Gordon Muir, David MacDowell, David Winning, Walter Ritchie, Billy Cunningham and Ronald Finlayson all received their Target 2 Award. Alex. Docherty, Alex. Brown, Stephen Robb, John Taylor and David Johnston received their Target 1. William Allison and Douglas Neil gained their Drill Badge stage 1 and Alex. Sneddon and David Welsh gained the Christian Education Stage 1 Badge. In the Junior Section many boys did extremely well in the Achievement Scheme and several gained their Gold Award. The officers and boys thanked those who helped in any way, and especially Mr Donald MacLeod for his help with the Seamanship class.
The Company played host to Cathcart District in the District Parade, and in spite of bad weather the church was almost full.
Due to a lack of staff available during the Fair Fortnight the Company would not be holding a summer camp.
The M.P. for Cathcart was Edward M. Taylor, M.A. of Craig Road. The Councillors were John Henderson Young of Glencroft Road, George Manson of Tormusk Road, and John Fitch of Dougrie Place. The Justices of the Peace were D. McWhinnie of Carmunnock Road, Mrs E.M. Gillies of Castlemilk Road and J.T. Leighton of Dunagoil Road. There was a Citizens' Advice Bureau in the Community Centre and a Legal Advice Centre at the Family Service Unit in Glenacre Quadrant.
Rev. James Millar had been in Castlemilk West for ten years and the congregation under his leadership had changed from an “enthusiastic but rather immature” congregation into a mature and confident group of people. Castlemilk West as a church extension involved the pastoral care of some 15 to 20 thousand people, as well as duties connected to the church itself. Mr Millar had all the qualities necessary to do the job, and the congregation wished to thank him for his patience, discretion, sincerity, sense of humour and dedication over the ten years. Very many people in Castlemilk had good reason to feel grateful to him.
The Sunday School held a Jumble Sale which raised £68 to the cost of buying books and materials for the Baird Research Programme of lessons. Mr Ronald Barclay, who spoke on “Children and Religion Today” and Miss McCallum from Edinburgh, who showed films of the Holy Land, were guests at the one-day Teachers' Conference in the Renfield Centre. The Conference was well attended with members from the other youth organisations coming along too. The Sunday School Outing went to Rouken Glen Park. An appeal was made by Miss V. McKinlay for more teachers as they were short of staff.
Harry Logan retired as Treasurer of the Men's Association after 16 years, and received a Bible and hymn book as a token of their appreciation. Wm Martin took over. C.E. Rough beat Bert Grant by one shot after an extra end to win the the Bowling Singles final, while the Pairs went to J. Gold and W. Mair.
Anyone wanting a reference from the Minister had to ask before submitting his name as a referee, and he would only give references for people he knew and those who had a connection to the church.
A letter was received from Jean Grigor from Melbourne, in Australia, in which she said that after the eleven driest months in over 100 years it was raining as hard as she had ever seen it rain in Glasgow. Although she was employed by the Methodists, she spoke about her ecumenical work among the Presbyterians, the Methodists and the Congregationalists. There was no union as yet, the Presbyterians being the stumbling-block, but the departments of Christian education of the three churches were working very closely together. She had run a group for eight weeks, and more than half the participants were Roman Catholic, including four nuns and three priests.
While she was in Queensland as a leader in a big National Christian Youth Convention, involving 800 delegates from all over Australia, she had visited Mrs Donald Mathieson (Betty Aitken who had been a leader of 74B Company of the Girls' Brigade) and her “lovely wee fair curly-haired” daughter, Heather.
The convener of the Garden Fête was again “the ever-willing” Mr John Smith. The income from the Fête was divided between the Building and Equipment Fund(two thirds) and the Livingstonia Hospital Fund (one third). Almost £400 was raised, £133 going to the Livingstonia Hospital Fund.
3,000 homes in the parish received the Crusader magazine, but Castlemilk was not the only place it had influence. Copies were regularly dispatched to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, North and South America, as well as to lots of Scottish and English destinations. One of the advertisers told of an order he had received from a small town in Aberdeenshire. There was also a cutting from a church magazine in Cayuga, Indiana, U.S.A., which contained a copy of the Rev. James Millar's letter from a Crusader magazine.
Miss Lesley Crichton gave up the Presidency of the Youth Fellowship, and as she was the last of what you might call the “Old crowd” of Jackie Petrie, Pat Kerr, Marion Cameron, and Sandra Dane, etc., it signalled the end of an era. Mr Colin Taylor of Carmunnock Road took over. The new session of the Fellowship began with a “Kumonin Evening”, which was really “just an excuse for a carry-on”.
Mr Alistair Angus, having moved to Edinburgh, had to give up the captaincy of the 18th B.B Company and the leadership of the Junior B.B. The new captain was Mr John Cruickshanks and the new leader of the Junior B.B. was Miss Margaret Gilchrist.
Sunday School Departments needed more teachers, as it was too much to expect interest to be maintained where classes contained twelve pupils or more.
Miss Marion Browning, M.A. was commissioned as a deaconess of the Church of Scotland in September in the church . Those attending the moving service were representative ministers, elders and deaconesses from Glasgow Presbytery, the Moderator and Clerk of the Presbytery and a large congregation of church members. Mr John McKechnie, the Session Clerk presented Miss Browning with a cassette tape recorder on behalf of the congregation.
Miss Morag Erskine was welcomed home after three years at the David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia. She addressed the congregation at both morning services on 2nd September, and an official Welcome Social was held in the church hall on 7th September. After a few musical items compèred by Mr Albert Barker, a buffet meal was served by the committee.
Bob McDill moved to his third charge since leaving Scotland, in Taylorville, in central Illinois.
Miss Mary Dunlop, one of the lady elders, resigned after nine years as Clerk to the Congregational Board. Mrs A. Barker took over her duties. Mrs Barker was a member of the choir, convener of the Property committee, member of the Building Fund Committee, and doer of many unofficial duties in the church. Mamie was presented with a copy of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible in appreciation of her long and devoted service.
Mrs Jean Hogg (formerly Miss Jean Cochran) graduated M.A. from Edinburgh University. Jean was involved in Sunday School and youth work in Castlemilk West before her marriage, but was now resident in the Borders.
Miss Wilma Kincaid, a member of 74B Girls' Brigade, of Ardmaleish Road was dux of Mitchellhill Primary School.
A new monthly paper called “The Bush” was published by Glasgow Presbytery, giving “news and views for churches in the area, and to foster a bond of fellowship among their members”. The cost of the paper was 2p.
The Retiring Offering of £27 on Communion Sunday was sent to the North-West India Appeal Fund, as they had suffered from a three year drought.
“Seven glorious days” were spent by a group from Castlemilk West along with groups from Abronhill and Edinburgh at Craigengower, Tighnabruaich.
Among the speakers at the Youth Fellowship were a doctor, an M.P., a college lecturer, a spiritualist, a governor of a prison and a member of the police drug squad. There was also a visit from “The Living Stones”.
The Castlemilk Horticultural Society had one of its biggest Flower Shows, and it was opened by Councillor Mrs C. Methven, Convener of the Social Amenities Committee. Also present was the Director of Parks, Mr Oldham. The number of entries had doubled in five years. The main prizewinners were G.Lamb of Homlea Road, C. Neilson of Dougrie Road, Castleton Primary and J. Lavelle of Raithburn Road.
Mrs McFarlane, janitor of Arnprior Primary since it opened 18 years previously, retired, and had a dinner in the Marie Stuart Hotel to mark the occasion. She received a cheque from the teachers of the school, and a copy of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible from Rev James Millar in appreciation of her long association with the Sunday School and for her co-operation and help over many years.
The amount in the Crusader Box for the year was £109.32, which was “really tremendous”, and another £14.38 was received from individual donors.
No comments:
Post a Comment