Bennochy Church 2012 – 2015

We continue the history of Bennochy from 2012 to 2015.

At the end of January 2012 the original view of the Church building was restored with the removal of the large trees. Pictures of the view before and after cutting can be seen below.

The annual RNLI SOS tea afternoon, held in late February again raised much needed funds for the lifeboats.

This years’ Souper Sunday lunch in aid of the Church of Scotland HIV Aids project was well attended with much soup consumed!

A picture of the ladies all ready to serve is shown below with more available in the photo gallery.

Bennochy Stained Glass Windows

On the 5th and 6th of March, the new Stained Glass Windows were installed which commemorate the union to form Bennochy Parish Church.

Within the design of the window, the churches are linked by a ribbon which encircles Bennochy. The union is symbolised through colour: the blues in the St Andrew’s panel (lower left) combine with the yellows in The St John’s panel (lower right) to give green in the Bennochy panel (centre) – the colour of resurrection and new life.

The following descriptions explain the design behind each diamond in the window, from left to right.

• The saltire cross and rope – symbols of St Andrews martyrdom.
• The fish – St Andrew offered the two fish in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.
• The net – St Andrew the fisherman. The trinity knot within represents the three churches which formed St Andrew’s – Abbotsrood, Dunnikier and Victoria Road.
• The woven strands also symbolise the town’s history as a centre of linen weaving.

• The words from Ephesians 4, 4-6 continue the theme of unity: “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all”.
• The Trinity symbol – “One God”.
• The dove, flames and 3 droplets of water – “One baptism” through the Holy Spirit.
• The seeds – baptism symbolises sowing the seeds of a Christian life. Here the seeds and the blue flower represent linseed oil, used in the production of linoleum.
• The rays – the radiant light of fellowship reaching out to the community.

• The green cross – symbol of resurrection, new life and spring.
• The unification took place in spring and the service featured a cross, made from daffodils.
• The tree- symbolising the growth of the new church, it’s many branches reaching out into the community.
• The buildings of the Parish.
• The people of the Parish.
• The flag – symbol of Bennochy’s missionary links with Zambia.

• Represents autumn in the four Kirkcaldy parks (Beveridge, Dunnikier, Gallatown & Ravenscraig).
• The landscape in the much admired hymn written by the former minister Rev Jack Millar “When the golden light of the morning, sets the Lomond Hills aglow, and the light of heaven is adorning, the fields and trees below”.
• The rainbow – symbol of a covenant (of faith), of hope and future.

• St John’s Cross.
• The soaring Eagle – symbol of the gospel of St John the evangelist.
• The chalice and snake – symbols of St John’s martyrdom.
• The grapes and grain – Holy Communion.

For a larger view of the fully completed window after installation, click on the image below:

The 11th March saw a new Memorial Service introduced in the afternoon which invited all the family and friends connected with Bennochy Church, the Parish or whose funeral had been conducted by the minister over the previous year.

The new Bennochy Stained Glass Windows were dedicated during a special service on 18th March. Many guests including the designer Shona McInnes, relatives of the benefactors and previous ministers associated with the building were present. The afternoon sun shone brightly to show the windows to best effect.

After the service tea, coffee and a wide selection of sausage rolls and cakes were available!

On Saturday March 24th Bennochy Parish Church joined the other Churches in Kirkcaldy Presbytery at the first Celebrate and Discover day held at Kirkcaldy High School.

Each Church presented its own stand with photographs of Church life and information about the Church, its people and activities. The main hall hosted the exhibitions along with ad-hoc singing groups and choirs. At the end of the day a closing worship was held including a Presbytery wide Choir and Praise Band. In the classrooms, various workshops were held with Bennochy providing a video on the new stained glass windows and a talk on website design. In the staff room a special show of items related to Jenny Featherstone and her work in Zambia was presented.

On their second visit to Bennochy Church, The Albany Church Deaf Choir from Edinburgh participated in the morning service on the 13th May and entranced the congregation with their sign-language singing.

The Queens’ Diamond Jubilee in June was celebrated with special bunting and appropriately coloured flowers for the Sunday service. To coincide, the first strawberry tea of the year also celebrated the jubilee as shown in the gathering below, with some interesting guests in disguise.

A fun day with Barbecue was held on the 23rd June with the weather relenting from the recent heavy rain just in time!

The renowned African Children’s Choir visited the Bennochy Church building for the second time to perform a concert on the 21st September as part of their UK tour. The children stayed with local families prior to the concert which was held in aid of the Music for Life charity.

A special visit by the Bibleworld Mobile was made to Kirkcaldy where the travelling trailer was sited in the Esplanade Basin car park for two weeks starting on the 29th October. Brought in by the Scottish Bible Society primarily for school children, the highly acclaimed education resource was visited by nine local primary schools with over 700 children enjoying the latest technology to bring the bible to life. Members of the Bennochy congregation acted as volunteer stewards during the visit and three open days were organised for anyone to experience the attraction.

The annual Bennochy Parish Church Christmas Fayre was held in November with an excellent number of vistors buying the donated (and home made) goods and refreshements. A total of £2,485 was raised for Church funds.

During November the congregation filled many Christmas boxes for distribution by Blythswood Care throughout Eastern Europe. The boxes were presented at a themed Sunday service led by the Wycliffe Bible Translators who explained how the bible is translated into printed, audio and sign language editions for use around the world.

Later in the week the lorry uplifted 142 boxes from Bennochy Church and 95 boxes from Dunnikier School before being transported to the depot and then on to countries where there is a lot of poverty. This was a wonderful boost to the appeal and everyone was thanked for filling a shoe box or who gave a donation. Our support of this charity helps to bring joy and laughter to people at Christmas.

The Rev. Dr. Inderjit Bhogal OBE, leader of the Corrymeela Community, was guest preacher at a special evening service on 18th November at which guests from around the Kirkcaldy area were invited. The following day he spoke to MSPs in the Holyrood Parliament.

On St. Andrew’s Day a charity concert was held to support Maggie’s cancer facility in Kirkcaldy. The East Fife Ladies Choir supported by children from the North Primary School raised more than £700 for this worthy cause.

The first day of Advent saw our Youth Participation Service which included special slots for the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides who taught the congregation a new song to sing around the campfire. The Boys’ Brigade then presented a review of the year highlighting the many exciting activities the boys participate in and the Taekwondo Club explained and demonstrated the many skills they master.

Our traditional Gift Service, where toys and gifts are donated to the Salvation Army for local distribution, was enhanced this year with a live band including well known musician Bruce Davies!

The band joined with Brian on the organ for the final two hymns. The Salvation Army were also present to accept the wide selection of gifts for local families in need. As this need increases each year, such gifts are very welcome by the recipients.

Christmas services this year included the Choir-led Lessons and Carols service followed by the Christmas Sunday morning service with the Sunday School and band accompaniment. A Watchnight event on Christmas Eve was also held.

2013

On February 9th, the former St. Andrew’s Parish Church building was sold to the Redeemed Christian Church of God who at the time were meeting in Glenrothes. The building had been empty since the union to form Bennochy Parish Church in early 2010. The pictures below were taken at the handover of the keys to the building.

On Saturday 2nd March, congregation member Bruce Davies performed a special musical concert. In a full time performing career spanning 29 years, Bruce has regularly sung all over the UK and USA and this was his first homecoming concert in Kirkcaldy for more than two years.

The concert consisted of Bruce performing with his acoustic six and twelve string guitars and singing the songs of his heroes and friends, as well as some of his own award-winning compositions and the best of Scotland’s song repertoire.

At the service on 17th March, our missionary partner Jenny Featherstone visited and gave an informative presentation on her work in Zambia.

The Guild hosted the East Fife Ladies Choir at their concert evening in March.

The Fife Deaf Church held their first service at Bennochy Church at the end of March after relocating from their previous home at St. Bryce Kirk. Their services are held on the last Sunday of each month and all visitors are welcome to attend.

In April over £600 was raised by a Scones and Sponges Afternoon Tea in aid of the Samaritans Kirkcaldy + District who celebrated 40 years of service in 2010 and are in need of funds to improve their Kirkcaldy building.

July was marked by the now traditional rota of services spread between the town center churches. This year the major themes of St. Columba were celebrated as 2013 marks 1450 years since his arrival on Iona. At Bennochy we celebrated the “Spiritual Life” of St Columba followed by “On a mission” at St Bryce, “Peace” at Linktown and “Hospitality” at Abbotshall.

The first stage in preparing for our new community café saw the Methven Hall painted in a new olive green colour during July to be followed by new curtains. A single Strawberry Fayre was held this year which raised £784 for Church funds. Despite a downpour in the morning, the afternoon event was well attended.

A new group offering educational Music, Singing and Movement to pre-school children started in August in the Methven Hall on Wednesday mornings. Jo Jingles hold classes around the country and are very popular.

On the 24th August, a Fun and Find Out Day was held in the hall and gardens when over 140 mainly local residents spent the afternoon taking part in activities, were entertained and offered free refreshments. As the event’s name suggests, ‘fun’ was very much the theme and there was something for all ages and interests. Outside there was a range of traditional games in which children (and quite a few adults) got totally involved, culminating in a ‘tug of war’. Fortunately there were plenty of hot dogs to help keep up energy levels.

Inside, all the halls including the sanctuary, were home to quizzes, robot demonstrations (Boys’ Brigade), learning origami (Brownies), a local history display (Kirkcaldy Civic Society), a Taekwondo demonstration (Taekwondo Club) and a piece of community theatre intriguingly entitled ‘Do Elephants Live Upstairs?’ (Suit and Pace). Meanwhile George the Clown wandered round encouraging folk to have a go at all the activities. Refreshments were available from our new community café – “The Olive Branch”.

The purpose of the event was not only to show what happens in the church throughout the week but also to ask members of the local community what else could be offered. At the “Community Evaluation Stall” everyone had the opportunity to comment on the local area and make suggestions. This was part of our on – going commitment to reaching out to the local community.

After 20 years, the Mothers and Toddlers Group has unfortunately had to close. This group provided invaluable support to local mothers allowing them to meet regularly and gain new friendships for years to come.

A new venture, The Olive Branch Community Café, opened on the morning of Thursday 12th September serving a selection of freshly made soup and sandwich meals as well as tea/coffee and a selection of other drinks and snacks. The café is open every Thursday afternoon.

The first day got off to a very good start thanks to the great support from members of the congregation and the team of volunteers. There were quite a few new faces and hope that these numbers will increase as word spreads. Feedback on the menu was very positive. The team was overwhelmed by the generous donations by members of the congregation of food, ingredients and a range of items.

Our annual Harvest Thanksgiving service in late September welcomed donations of non-perishable goods, shown above, for local distribution by the Salvation Army. An offering was also taken to support a carpentry student in Zambia on a course at the Chodart College under the control of Jenny Featherstone, our missionary partner.

This picture shows some of the members of the congregation beside the stained glass window during a special photo session for a new jigsaw – sure to be a big seller at the Christmas Fayre!

One of our ‘older’ boys from the Boys’ Brigade arranged a special football match at Buckingham Palace on the 7th of October in celebration of grass roots football. Ian Hunter, as president of the Civil Service Football Club, organised the special 150th anniversary match which was hosted by HRH The Duke of Cambridge. This event was widely covered by TV news broadcasts. Ian sent his good wishes to all current and previous Boys’ Brigade members as well as to John Methven and the team.

A special talk was given by Chris Beattie at the 20th October service covering some of the recent activities of KART (Kirkcaldy Area Reachout Trust). To provide greater support for the work of KART, special offerings at Communion Sunday services were donated to KART until the end of 2014.

Our annual Christmas box offering was once again well supported by the congregation who filled their boxes during October. The boxes were collected in Church for distribution by Blythswood Care throughout Eastern Europe and Pakistan. Pictures of some of the boxes prior to the uplift are shown below:

The Christmas Fayre was held as usual in November and was very busy with a wide selection of items for sale.

Christmas at Bennochy started with the 1st day of Advent service followed by the annual gift service where toys are donated for local distribution by the Salvation Army. A selection of pictures from the gift service are shown below.

2014

The Kirkcaldy Foodbank was founded in Dysart with support and supplies from the congregation. Ongoing supplies were able to be left during the opening hours of the Olive Branch Café each Thursday and at local supermarkets.

A Ceilidh and Buffet was held in February to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Taekwondo Club. The previous week a 24hr Taekwondo exhibition kept everyone very busy.

Our annual RNLI SOS Tea Afternoon raised over £1,600 with proceeds to the Kirkcaldy branch of the RNLI. The scones and cake were well received!

In March, the second Presbytery-wide Celebrate and Discover Day was held again at Kirkcaldy High School. As well as stands from all the Churches there was music, a praise band, youth activities and arts competitions. Each Church congregation was invited to create messaage cards in the shape of leaves for placing on each ‘vine’, as shown in the picture below.

The Women’s Group annual Bunny Drive in April was another great success this year raising nearly £300.

At the 11th May morning service we were joined by Malcolm Evans from Zambia, pictured below left.

He updated us on the latest news from our Mission Partner, Jenny Featherstone in Choma and also delivered two money boxes made from Rosewood and Mukwa, the local hardwoods.

The boxes were commissioned from the Carpentry School in Chodart College, where we began the year by supporting Stanley S. Mweetwa over the year’s course. However as he had to give up the course part way through we altered our support to Priscilla Handima on the Tailoring course.

Christian Aid Week started on the 11th May in style with a Soup and Sweet Fellowship Lunch with all proceeds going to Christian Aid.

Some pictures from the special lunch are shown below. A three course meal was speedily delivered with soup, sweet and tea/coffee being offered.

Summer services followed the pattern of previous years with a rotation around St. Bryce, Abbotshall and Linktown Churches with a theme of famous sermons from the mounts.

At the service on 10th August, we were joined by the Revd. Steve Eason, senior pastor of Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Steve was attending the Scotland Connection 2014 conference in Kirkcaldy along with 11 other pastors from the USA. A Ceilidh was held as part of the conference at St. Columba’s Church in Glenrothes.

September marked the first anniversary of the Olive Branch Café. As part of the annual Fun and Find Out Day, an internet access facility was launched which is now available during the café opening hours and also provides free wi-fi – turning us into a full Internet Café! A section of the hall was setup with a selection of donated laptops to allow members of the local community to access web based services. The local MSP David Torrance formally opened the new facility. Members of the café team are shown below with a selection of cakes (which were free on anniversary day).

The special Harvest Thanksgiving service marked the first use of the special wooden collection boxes made at our request in Zambia. They were used for a collection to raise funds to support our sponsored student at the college. As usual the Salvation Army was on hand to accept our gift of foodstuffs which will be added to the local foodbank supplies.

Our annual Family Quiz Night in October, organised by the Women’s Group, was once again a fun evening and included a dessert supper.

Support for the Blythswood Shoebox Appeal continued this year with a selection of Christmas boxes being filled and donated by the congregation for distribution in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and several other countries where there is a lot of poverty.

Our annual gift day helped collect toys and other gifts for distribution around the Kirkcaldy area for Christmas by The Salvation Army. A picture of some of the gifts is shown below. In total 92 boxes were donated by Bennochy Church, mostly for Eastern Europe.

Poinsettias were displayed in the Church during the Advent services, each dedicated by a member of the congregation to remember loved ones. The plants were taken home after the Christmas service.

2015

Two new keep fit classes were started on Thursdays comprising Zumba Gold and Tai Chi. After the workouts a trip to the Olive Branch Café would likely be needed! If that was not enough, a new Monday night Zumba class was also inaugurated.

Our annual Songs of Praise service was held at the beginning of March where members of the congregation were able to select a song and give a short introduction as to why it was chosen.

This years RNLI SOS Tea Afternoon with a cake and candy stall, also in March, raised over £1,300 with proceeds to the Kirkcaldy branch of the RNLI.

The Open Door team fundraiser event of the year was an auction of nearly 100 donated items – a great effort!

During the summer a new heating system was installed throughout the Church with increased flexibility when used in the various halls. The Methven Hall stage was also removed and replaced with a new storage area.

In September the Church hosted another Fun and Find Out Day which included the output from the first meetings of the new Quilting Group as well as food and childrens entertainment. Also providing musical delights were the newly formed Community Choir based on the popular TV series. All members of the local community are invited to take part regardless of singing ability!

The gardens were also enhanced with two new benches, one dedicated to former long time congregation member Effie Cooper by her family. In the future it is hoped to grow vegetables as part of a Community Garden to complement the benches.

Our annual Harvest Thanksgiving service included dontations of foodstuffs (see below) which were sent to the local Kirkcaldy Foodbank. A special collection was also taken to support activities by our missionary Jenny Featherstone in Zambia.

Our new childrens event, the Messy Church, was piloted earlier in the year and became a more regular event after the Harvest Service at the end of September. The Messy Church is for families and brings together creativity (crafts and getting messy!), celebration (a time of informal worship) and offers hospitality (a shared meal together).

The pilot of the Quilting Group was successful so a new weekly group has been formed and now meets on Monday evenings. We look forward to viewing what they will be making.

The Christmas Teas, with selected festive stalls, were held in the newly refurbished Methven Hall in late November and included a fine selection of home baking.

John Methven’s 80 years association with the Boys’ Brigade as boy, officer and leader was celebrated at a special service on 29th November. Many old boys were present to see presentations to John and to hear him speak of his long service. In association with this event an exhibition of Boys’ Brigade memorabilia was hosted the Methven Hall. Special guests included some Scottish leaders of the B.B.

John joined the Brigade when he was nine, whilst attending Dunnikier Primary School and fondly remembers his milk rounds in Kirkcaldy as a young boy. He worked his way though the ranks until becoming captain of the 4th Kirkcaldy until his retirement in 2015.

To mark the occasion, Bennochy member Brian Fairful composed a special tribute to be sung to the tune of Ch4 737 (Will your anchor hold):

John sent us a message of thanks for the day – “Very many thanks to everyone for their kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity in celebration of my 80 years involvement with the Boys’ Brigade. I’ve received many cards, visits and unexpected ‘phone – calls – I’m fair embarrassed! The service was excellent, and I enjoyed & appreciated meeting up with friends and ex-members, both in the Church and also at the Lunch afterwards at the Victoria Hotel. Thanks a million to everyone.”

The year ended with the usual selection of Advent services including a service of carols and lessons led by the Choir, a performance by the Sunday School and the Christmas Eve watchnight service. New this year was a glittery Messy Church afternoon which included a meal.

The last event of the year was a joint town centre churches service held at Bennochy Church.

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