Hello friend,

As I write this I am preparing to go through to this year’s General Assembly, and as you read it the General Assembly will have passed.

Every year the General Assembly makes decisions that will affect the church both nationally and locally and this year is no exception with topics to be discussed that will have an impact on every one of us. I would therefore encourage you to look at the Church of Scotland website for all the up-to-date news.

Summer is almost upon us and whilst this means that some of the groups take a well-earned break over the summer, there is still plenty going on in the life of the church.

It is hoped that we will soon know the ministerial allocation for our cluster group and conversations are ongoing between the 5 local churches and Presbytery as to how this allocation will be divided, so please keep this process and all those involved in your prayers.

I would also ask if you would consider becoming more involved in the life of the church. The committees that help in the day-to-day smooth running of the church are in desperate need of new members, so if you feel you could help out then please contact me and I can pass your details on to the relevant convenor.

If you don’t feel this is for you then perhaps you could help out at [email protected] on a Sunday. Again, if you would like to get involved in this please contact me in the first instance.

It is more important than ever that we all try to do a bit more for the church and the community we serve, so please if you can help out, please do so.

I mentioned earlier that some of the groups are coming to the end of their session, and the BB is one of them, and the end of this session will be more poignant than usual as it will mark the stepping down of the company’s Captain, Mr Robbie Sutherland.

Robbie has served the company faithfully and diligently for a ‘number of years’ and his enthusiasm and dedication to the company have been exemplary. However, Robbie has decided the time has come for him to step down and allow someone else the privilege of leading the 79th, and that role now falls to Graeme Stephen.

I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank Robbie for all his years’ service and to wish him all the best and welcome Graeme as the Captain of the 79th.

So, until the next issue of Crosstalk, I hope you have a lovely summer.

your friend in Christ
Stuart