NOVEMBER

2010

Volume 48 No 9

This is one of the early stained glass

windows in St Columba’s and is one of

four in the Church which were made in

Scotland. It depicts the Risen Christ

greeting Mary in the garden and has the

inscription ‘Jesus Master’. It is early in

the day and the morning star is visible

and the St Joseph’s lilies are the symbol

of the resurrection. It was donated by

one of the original members of the

Board of Management who gave it in

memory of his wife Mary Ann Morrison

(1880 – 1941).

THIS MONTH’S

FEATURED CHURCH

IS ST COLUMBA’S

PRESBYTERIAN

CHURCH IN

JOHANNESBURG

The

Guild

Magazine of Giffnock South Parish Church

We are indebted to Ron Timm for the photograph and description.

Cutting the Big Birthday Party cake to celebrate 95 years of Guild ser-vice. See article on page 3 and more photos on EGAP.

Remembrance Sunday 14th November

Contributions for the December edition of the Sentinel should be sent to the

office or emailed to alpark@talktalk.net by 14th November, please.

The

Minister’s

Letter

268 Dyke Road, G13 4QX

0141 954 1574

eric.janis@btinternet.com

My Dear Friends,

Some time ago I heard the story

of a boy who spent his holiday in

the country with his grandparents.

One day when he was out in the

field with his grandfather they

found a small strange bird. Ernie,

as they named him, was taken

home to show to his grandma. In

order to give Ernie a good home

he was placed with a mother hen

and her brood of chicks. Grandpa

had more than a sneaking suspi-

cion what kind of bird they were

boarding but he kept the secret to

himself. Ernie was an Eaglet.

Pretty soon Ernie was larger than

the other birds on the farm. One

sunny afternoon the mother eagle

spied Ernie the eaglet eating corn

down on the farm with some

strange looking white birds.

Mother eagle soared around and

around. She hovered lower and

lower and suddenly she called out

with her mother eagle call. Eaglet

Ernie listened paused and spread

his wings. Then suddenly he be-

gan to fly. Ernie began to soar in

response to the call of his mother.

Eaglet Ernie had within him the

life of his mother, an eagle. He

heard the eagle call and re-

sponded. Those chicks also heard

the call but they only gave a little

chirp, a slight jump and then re-

turned to eating the corn. For Ea-

glet Ernie eating corn was tran-

sient. His calling, his purpose in

life was higher than that. He lis-

tened to and heeded that call. His

wings took him high into the sky

where the air was pure and he ex-

perienced life with his mother and

the other eagles. He also experi-

enced a freedom never realised

before.

I doubt if it is a true story but it is

a story nevertheless with a pro-

found spiritual lesson for all of us

and it’s this. God is calling us to

rise and soar and spread our

wings and achieve our potential.

Someone once wrote “There are

two lasting bequests we can give

our children. One is roots, the

other is wings.” The same could

be said for the Church. Our roots

are in Christ. Our Christian ser-

vice gives us wings. We need to

allow God to strengthen us so that

we have deep roots in our faith

and that He will lift us up on ea-

gle’s wings so that we might soar

to heights as yet unknown.

With best wishes,

ERIC McLACHLAN.

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH

“To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.” Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

THE VACANCY

Well, they’re

back safe and sound

‘cos my big cousin reck-

oned their tired old bodies would be indigestible and give him heartburn so he

left them alone. I guess I’m stuck

with HIM. BorisBorisBorisBoris

Page 2

Much too tough!

So sorry to disappoint Boris but, yes, we’re back from South Africa where we had a wonderful time viewing game (four of the big five as we didn’t spot(!) a leop-ard). Hippos cavorting in the river below our lodge and a croc sunbathing on the sandbank while a pair of fish eagles soared overhead—these memories linger. We also enjoyed a very warm welcome at St Columba’s Presbyterian Church in Johannesburg. Some photos are on the front page with another of their magnificent stained glass windows on EGAP.

REMEMBRANCE Sunday 14h Novem-ber is Remem-brance Sunday. Please note that our Morning Worship will begin at the earlier time of 10.55am and that there will be a short Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial in Greenhill Avenue immediately following the Service. The Session has indicated that it

is happy to en-courage those who have medals to wear them on this occasion if they so wish.

CHURCH

OFFICE HOURS The church office is now open in the afternoon instead of the morning—from 2.30pm to 4.30pm weekdays

Tel:- 638 2599. Email:

giffnocksouth@btconnect.com

Session Clerk: Tony Ireland

Still vacant! But be patient! Be assured that the Nominating Committee is straining every sinew and leaving nary a stone unturned in its search. Have faith!

0141 639 6532 Home

07831525513 Mobile

01563 522137 Work mornings

Page 3 NEWSNEWSNEWNEWSNEWNEWS-

With most of the re-turns now in we can

r e p o r t that the superb figure of £32,250 has now been banked and with the prospect of approxi-mately £6,300 tax being recovered, the finance com-mittee are mightily pleased and reckon this will hope-fully reduce the possibility of a deficit at the year end. Everybody deserves a huge dollop of thanks and the generosity of the members who contributed, despite these uncertain times, is greatly appreciated. But please note that there is still time to send in a re-turn if you have not already done so. It can be placed in the offering bag on a Sunday or sent to the church office. The convener thanks his committee, the co-ordinators and Jackie in the office for their sterling effort and the elders for ensuring everybody was given the opportu-nity to participate in this worthwhile effort.

I went to buy camouflage trousers, but just couldn’t find any.

ink cartridges—C.H.A.S. NEEDS THEM

It is now 6 weeks since our earthquake and we’re still shaking. I’ve actually managed to educate a lot of Kiwis by teaching them the word “shoogle”. It’s a much more palatable term than earthquake or aftershock. I think they like it. We are still having magnitude 4-5 aftershocks although they’re nowhere near as frequent. We can now go for days without feeling one although smaller ones are still happening and we’ve now had 1812 aftershocks. Seis-mologists say they could go on for months. One very close family member has been in Christchurch several times but remains disappointed not have felt one. I sug-gested to her it was because she’s always on her horse or has her head in a feed bucket. People and their lives are getting back to normal al-though the knock-on effect will go on a lot longer than the earthquakes. One irony is, since the earthquake, Christchurch has had brilliant sunny weather while the rest of the country has had torrential rain. The government has said that the majority of properties will be able to be rebuilt with remedial treatment for most of the affected land. However the government will not compensate residents for their loss of home value and acknowledge there could be insurance problems for af-fected land. Bless the insurance companies – they won’t give out any assurances that land is insured. There are about six heritage buildings that need to be demolished and there’s the usual protests about the council not getting independent engineers’ reports. This is the Manchester Courts building which has been on the site since 1906 (yes, that’s a heritage building!). The building owner says it could collapse at any time but protesters say it can be saved. Repair for buildings such as the hotel I work in, can’t be started until the after-shocks stop. After every large after-shock I’m sure I can see new cracks and existing ones get worse. I don’t think I’ll ever get over being freaked by watching walls move. With any luck this Sentinel reporter will be able to retire early from lack of earth-

quakes to report. Glenda Manley Glenda Manley Glenda Manley Glenda Manley

1812 Aftershocks

LATEST NEWS FROM OUR REPORTER

IN CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALND

GIFFNOCK SOUTH ELDER ACCUSED

A prominent Giffnock South Elder was ac-cused of being responsible for the earth-quake which occurred just after he had landed in Christchurch. “It had nothing to do with me,” Jack protested to a Sentinel re-porter who accosted him at church recently.

The Guild’s 95th Birthday Party was an outstanding success enjoyed by 50 ladies and gentlemen. We had several messages of congratulation including a 95

th birthday card on behalf of the ses-

sion. After an excellent meal 14 ladies received long service and good conduct certificates from the Na-tional Guild and then our special musical entertain-ment was provided by Ian and Kirsteen McLean; Ian being this year’s Mod gold medallist and Kirsteen a former gold medallist. Their concert of well-known songs concluded with leading us in Auld Lang Syne. Roll on our century! Special thanks go to Bett Coutts and May Robertson for the beautiful table decorations and to Keith Robert-son for our very personal menus.

We recently published some of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s famous sayings and in a recent article in The Herald Ron Ferguson revealed another which you may have missed and at the risk of ruffling a few feathers we repro-duce it here. . In an address to the General Assembly of the Kirk last year, he said, "In this

family there are no outsiders. All are insiders - lesbian, gay, so-called straight - we are family. We are all cre-ated in the image of God." . This wonderful man whose great spiritual and moral voice has moved millions will be missed from the pub-lic sphere as he gradually retires to spend more time with his family.

The

Guild

GOLD AWARD CEREMONY

Giffnock South played host to a special ceremony recently when 26 boys from South Side Companies were presented with their Gold Award. The introduction was by Hugh Campbell, the Captain of our own 245th Glasgow Company.

EXTRACT FROM KIRSTEEN gray’s ROMANIAN BLOG

This is Molly, Douglas Kat-tenhorn’s new dog who is eight month’s old; “Full of mischief but fairly bid-dable.” Says Douglas.

Yes, OK I’ll put up with this -

yet another of these pesky hounds — but she’d better stay on Skye.

We reckon you will decide that proofreading is a dying art when you read more genuine headlines from various publications.

POLICE BEGIN CAMPAIGN TO RUN DOWN JAYWALKERS (Isn’t that taking things a bit far?)

SOMETHING WENT WRONG in JETCRASH,

EXPERT SAYS (No!)

WAR DIMS HOPE FOR PEACE (Yes, rather obvious, No?)

COLD WAVE LINKED TO TEMPERATURES

(Really?)

I went down to the paper shop only to find that it had blown away.

Boys’ Camp

In July, 11 boys from 3 orphanages met the

challenge of hiking in the Carpathian Moun-

tains. There was great excitement as I picked

up the boys from Rosiori de Vede and Alex-

andria at the metro station. They soon had

everything packed and were on the way to Snagov to prac-

tice putting up tents and getting all the information they

needed for their trip. The trip itself was a great success, the

weather was a little chilly but it only rained once and the

boys got to experience the beautiful scenery of Romania and

God’s creation. Like the girls’ camp, they had a scavenger

hunt and other fun activities in between many meaningful

conversations and one boy (that we know of) made a com-

mitment to the Lord. On Saturday Jen and I drove to Sinaia

to collect them. I was expecting them to be tired and quiet –

Oh No!!! They were so excited and desperate to tell of their

adventures. The only complaint was that there was not

enough Romanian bread!!! – not an easy find up a mountain!

Would you like to help with Kirsteen’s work with the orphans in Romania? Donations are always most warmly welcomed and may be left at the of-fice, marked “For Kirsteen, Heart to Heart, Scot-land”. All donations will be acknowledged.

In beautiful weather on 16 October we visited the Ra-ven Trust at Strachur for an Open Day and saw a con-tainer load of 1185 boxes, 10 tonnes, from Scottish churches like our own, being loaded and ready to go the 10,000 miles to northern Malawi. The country has few natural resources, weak infrastructure and agricul-ture and a poverty stricken population ravaged by HIV/AIDS and tropical dis-eases. Vital equipment and supplies are sent in six containers a year: reconditioned tools, knitted toys, blankets, baby clothes, hospital equipment, Bibles and other books, even a brand-new ambulance boat built in Scotland. We took up 100 tee shirts obtained by May Robertson for the primary school. Think of their needs (see theraven-trust.org), needles, pencils and a host of other things you may have or can get and we’ll get them to Strachur. (A donation towards the cost of transport to Malawi is appreciated.) After lunch we heard marvellous stories from those re-cently returned from visits to Ekwendeni and nearby, of their building a house there and then for orphan boys whose previous house was a leaky mud hut, of 30 wells being repaired and other uplifting accounts. John Chal-lis, the key figure in the Raven Trust who is just back from Ekwendeni, is so inspirational and gifted in getting things done in Christ’s name. He told us that the school house which we of the Kwenderana churches are build-

ing is nearly finished* – the electricity has to be linked up. Maureen of Busby Church and Fiona of William-wood are out there at the moment and will be thrilled to see the progress. We commend the work of the Trust to your prayers. .

Bill StevenBill StevenBill StevenBill Steven *See photo on EGAP

ANOTHER CONTAINER ANOTHER CONTAINER ANOTHER CONTAINER ANOTHER CONTAINER

LOAD BOUND FOR EKWENDENILOAD BOUND FOR EKWENDENILOAD BOUND FOR EKWENDENILOAD BOUND FOR EKWENDENI

Page 4

Loading the truck for Ekwendeni

DEFT DEFINITIONS . Conceit is a form of I-strain.

Money is the loot of all evil.

ADVANCE WARNINGADVANCE WARNINGADVANCE WARNINGADVANCE WARNING

CHRISTMAS FAYRECHRISTMAS FAYRECHRISTMAS FAYRECHRISTMAS FAYRE

Don’t don’t don’t don’t

miss it! It’s the event of

the year: it’s the world

famous, not-to-be-

missed, giffnock south

guild FAYRE

DECEMBER 1ST 2-4PM

WHAT’S HAPPENING? WHERE AND WHEN Page 5

NOVEMBER DATES AT A GLANCE

Tue 2nd 7.30pm: Margo McDonald at Orchardhill Wed 3rd 2pm: Guild with Joy Blair Sat 6th 10am-4pm: Art Club Exhibition & Sale Wed 10th 7.30pm: Session Meeting Sun 14th 10.55am: Remembrance Service Last day for Sentinel contributions Wed 17th 2pm: Guild with Sheila Bond Tue 23rd 6.30pm: Eastwood Court Service

DECEMBER DATES

Wed 1st 2-4pm: Guild Christmas Fayre

The Rev Eric McLachlan, our locum minister, gave The Guild a great start to the season with a talk entitled "The Car-penter’s Tools" relating Jesus’ teaching to our everyday lives. .

With our 95th birthday party behind us we look forward to November.

On Wednesday 3rd at 2pm our own Joy Blair will give us an illus-

trated visit to lighthouses entitled "Sea Lights". On Wednesday 17th

also at 2pm Miss Sheila Bond is going to introduce us to the world of "Hums and Hummels". We know that Joy Blair is a lively speaker and Sheila Bond also comes with excellent references.

The Guild is open to all - ladies and gentlemen - and we also have members from other churches. We are happy and informal, dress casually - no hats or twinsets with pearls and smiles a-plenty along with a good welcome. Come along and meet us.

Please also support our Christmas Fayre on 1st December from 2pm

until 4pm. More details in the next Sentinel.

The

Guild

Our next service at Eastwood Court will be held on Tuesday 23

rd

November at 6.30pm. As always, the November service is our act of remembrance for those who died in the two world wars and subsequent conflicts. We are also mindful of those who still bear the scars of battle. This is a very meaningful act of worship for the folks of Eastwood Court and members of the congregation are very welcome to join us for the thirty minute service.

Eastwood Court

The LHM Christmas Collection leaflet has been included in this month’s Sentinel . You are reminded that to save postage an order list is posted on the notice board outside the Winton Hall. You can leave an order together with a cheque for the amount, payable to LHM, and this will be handled as quickly as possible. As this is the Mis-sion's own promotion they get all the profit and is deserving of your support.

The Choir has restarted on what will turn out to be another busy session. . On Sunday 7

th November we

shall join King’s Park Choir to present in that church an eve-ning of praise in celebration of the 80

th year in the life of the

church. . At Christmas this year we shall present, on the evening of Sunday 19

th December, the Festival of Nine Les-

sons and Carols with lessons read by representatives of the various organisations of the church. . A date to note for 2011: Sunday 27

th March. On that

evening the choir along with the choir of King’s Park will present in Giffnock South, ‘Music for a Royal Occa-sion’ when we shall remember and bring life to much well loved music which has been used at royal occa-sions down many years. This was last sung here in 1997 and people have from time to time asked me when we would be repeating it. . D McC

There will be a meeting in Orchardhill on Tuesday 2nd No-

vember when Margo McDonald MSP will speak about The

Law of Compassion and her views on assisted suicide. She

will explain what the Bill she has brought to the Scottish

Parliament is about and why it is important. There will be

time for discussion.

ART CLUB ANNUAL SHOW

SATURDAY 6TH NOVEMBER FROM 10AM TO 4PM

There will be 100 or so works by the members on show and for sale with 1/3 of the selling price being donated to Erskine Hospital.

Entry is free and tea and coffee will be served. There will be a donation programme.

POLLOKSHAWS PARISH CHURCH

NEARLY NEW SALE

Every Wednesday 10-12noon Contributions received on Tuesday mornings. (Not afternoons as wrongly printed last month)

Page 6

GIFFNOCK UNITED GIFFNOCK UNITED GIFFNOCK UNITED GIFFNOCK UNITED

REFORMED CHURCHREFORMED CHURCHREFORMED CHURCHREFORMED CHURCH

You are invited to join us for the Wednesday Lunchtime Service

at 11.30am. Lunchbite will follow at 12.15pm

Also

SATURDAY SALES & COFFEE MORNING

This Saturday morning activity (October to March) is from 10am

till noon. Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy tea or coffee and a chat then browse the many

stalls.

Earlier in the year Kathy Rice visited this memorial and kindly sent in the fol-lowing article which was held back until now, as it was felt this was a more appropriate time to publish. We thank Kathy for giving us the insight of this wonderful monument.

The National Memorial Arboretum comprises 150 acres at Alrewas in Stafford-shire. It was conceived as a living tribute to the wartime generations of the twentieth century and as a gift to their memory. From the start it was seen as

a place of joy where the lives of people would be remembered by living trees that would grow and mature in a world at peace. The site was leased in 1997 for a peppercorn rent from Redland Aggregates (now Lafarge) and tree planting began immediately. There are already in excess of 50,000 young trees on the site.

In 2006 construction of the armed forces memorial began. It provides recognition and thanks for those who have given their lives in the service of their country in more than 50 operations and conflicts across the world since the two world wars in both the armed and merchant services, often as part of a UN, NATO or other international body. The memorial itself stands at the top of a mound and comprises two curved walls and two straight walls on which the names of those who have died are recorded in date and service order so that colleagues who died in the same incident are grouped together. .

There is a gap in the wall that is designed to capture the sun at the 11

th hour of the 11

th month to beam a shaft on to the bronze wreath at

the centre. . The millennium chapel of peace and forgiveness was dedicated in 2000. The structure is supported on twelve trunks of Douglas Fir to pay tribute to the great Scottish plantsman David Douglas. The chapel is the one place in the UK where the two minute silence is observed every day of the year at 11am. After a short introduction to the silence visitors are invited to stand and after the silence the last

post is played followed by the reveille. . As well as the main armed forces memorial there are some 160 individual remembrances throughout the site dedicated to particular regiments and groups. .

In 2003 the Royal British Legion took over the ownership of the site and has planted a memorial poppy field which presents a stunning feature in May and June. Alongside employed staff there are over one hundred volunteers who work as guides, gardeners, run educational programme for all ages and give talks and presentations.

The National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas Kathy RiceKathy RiceKathy RiceKathy Rice

Detail from The Gates, a bronze sculpture by Ian Rank-Broadley

Remembrance: For Those in Peril on the Sea A new memorial to the Merchant Navy The work of the Fishermen’s Mission ‘Churchill’s Pirates’ The Rev Scott Brown, new Chaplain of the Fleet Remembrance reflection and prayer by the Moderator Prisoners Week A Glasgow project supporting released prisoners Staging The Life of Jesus in an American maximum se-curity prison A Travelling Faith Jackie Macadam meets Jessie Smith, whose roots lie in the Scottish Travelling community Called to Love Mercy’ Lynne McNeil reports from the annual meeting of The Guild Changing Lives Delegates and guests of this year’s National Youth Assembly share their experiences A Salty Christian The Very Rev Dr James Simpson writes about Louise Whitfield, wife of the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie The Growing Church Holy Trinity St Andrews The ‘Real Hand of God’ The Rev Martin Allen examines the lessons pre-sented by Joseph Plus all the regular columnists, news, letters, re-views and crosswords – all for just £1.60.

NOVEMBER ISSUE

Out now

An English clergyman complaining of bats in his belfry was given the follow-ing advice:- "Baptise, confirm and marry them and you will never see them again." But surely this wouldn’t happen at Giffnock South. Would it?

The memorial is a unique haven of peace and contemplation and well worth a visit.

ORDER YOUR COPY FROM

ALAN GRAY

639 1401

Kathy RiceKathy RiceKathy RiceKathy Rice

Page 7

Name Dis

Mrs Jane Richmond 70

Name Dis. Dis

Mrs Isobel Cruikshank 61 61

Parish Register

Duties

Members Leaving

Change of Address

Date 7 November 14 November 21 November 28 November

Office Bearers Team 7 Team 8 Team 9 Team 10

Tape Recording Neil Grimmond Charlie Hunter Tony Ireland Bill Spalding

Creche Caroline Black Vicki Bryce

Jem Burton Elaine Crawford

Fiona Devon Kirsty Duncan

Diane Johnstone Marion McLeod

Café Rota Helen Black Marjorie Grimmond Ann Park Margaret Whyte

The church halls are proving very popular, being used for a wide range of activities and we thought it would be a good idea to let everyone see the clubs and activities that are available. This is good for the church as it means a busy, active week and also boosts the hall rental income! If you need to book any of the halls or rooms for a one-off event or meeting, please make sure you speak to Sue Harvey, Graham or Jackie to check availability (see contact numbers below)– we have details of all the regular bookings but please……don’t assume a hall or room will be available as you’ve always been able to use it in the past……as you can see, it’s getting busy!!

Winton Hall Regular Bookings

Sunday Sunday Schools

Monday Carpet Bowls 10.00am – Noon

Art Class 2.00pm

Guides 7.30pm – 9.30pm

Tuesday Tuesday Morning Club 10.00am – Noon

Carpet Bowls 1.30pm – 3.30pm

Anchor Boys 6.45pm – 7.45pm

Core Fitness 8.00pm – 9.00pm

Wednesday Core Fitness 9.30am – 10.30am

Guild (Alternate weeks) 2.00pm or 7.30pm Rosemary Conley 5.40 – 7.40pm

Thursday Carpet Bowls 10.00am – Noon

Cardiac Aerobics 1.30pm – 3.00pm

Zumba 7.15pm – 8.45pm Friday Parent & Toddler 10.00am – 11.30am

BB 7.30pm – 9.00pm Saturday Helen O’Grady Drama School 10.00am – Noon

Eglinton Hall Regular Bookings

Sunday Sunday Schools

Monday Jo-Jingles 9.00am – 11.30am

Brownies 6.00pm – 7.30pm

Core Fitness 8.00pm – 9.00pm

Tuesday Rhythm Time 9.30am – 11.30am

Yoga 7.45pm – 9.15pm

Wednesday Yoga 10am – 11am

Kirk Session or

Congregational Board 7.30pm

Rosemary Conley 6pm – 9pm

(Alternate weeks) Thursday Choir Practice 7.45pm

Friday Core Fitness 9.30am – 10.30am

BB Junior Section 6.30pm – 8.30pm

CONTACTS Sue Harvey, Halls Convener: 638 6119 Graham Morton, Church Officer: 638 3594 Jackie Alexander, Church Office: 638 2599

The nearly finished schoolhouse at Ekwendeni See article on page 4

Loading the truck at Strachur with gifts for Malawi. See article on page 4

Sustenance for the hard-working Nominating Committee

This is one of the early stained glass win-

dows and depicts Jesus with Peter and John

and has the inscription “Jesus Said: Follow

Me” The window was given in memory of

William Moir (1875 – 1954) who was one of

the founders of St Columba’s. The window

was made in Scotland and at the bottom the

St Andrew’s Cross is clearly visible.

Magnificent WindowsMagnificent WindowsMagnificent WindowsMagnificent Windows

Now isn’t that a face only a mother could love! Says Boris

A few of the guests enjoying the Big Birth-day Party to celebrate 95 years of Guild Service at Giffnock South . LEFT: The cake. More pictures next month.

We are indebted to Ron Timm for the photograph and description.