THINKING ABOUT AN END TO POVERTY
Mearns Coastal Parish THE annual Thinking Day service in Johnshaven Church on Sunday morning began with locum minister, Mr Gordon Anderson, receiving the Union flag and the Brownie pennant.
The theme for this year's Thinking Day is "together we can end extreme poverty and hunger" and Mr Anderson, addressing the young girls directly, told them three stories as a means of illustrating different attitudes to change. Firstly he introduced them to Mr Winnae, Mr Cannae and Mr Dinnae, as three examples of how not to tackle a problem. Then there was the lesson of the five fingers of the hand which on their own are pretty useless but can perform wonders when working together. Thirdly they met the man who, by throwing dying starfish, stranded after a storm, back into the sea as he strolled along the beach, made a difference where he was, by doing what he could when he could. The most important people on Thinking Day, however, he said, were the Guides and Brownies themselves who would also be able to achieve great things if they held themselves in high esteem and believed in what they were doing.
The service ended with Mr Anderson returning the colours.
The organist was Robin Beattie.
In the winter issue of Mearns Coastal's newsletter Gordon Anderson pens his last message to the congregation as locum minister. Thanking those worshippers who, despite inclement weather and family and health problems attended church Sunday by Sunday, for giving him the opportunity to serve God, the congregation and the wider community, Mr Anderson encouraged them to "Keep on keeping on" and to face the challenges of the new ministry in faith.
Mr Anderson's lengthy period as locum minister began on the retirement of the Rev George Hastie in February 2009 and will end on the induction of the Rev Colin Dempster on Thursday, April 15. The Presbytery of Kincardine and Deeside will be present at this service which will be conducted by the Rev Dr Heather Peacock (Banchory-Devenick and Maryculter/Cookney). Dr Fyffe Blair (Stonehaven Fetteresso) will preach the sermon. An invitation is extended to all in the Parish to attend this important event and also the social evening which will follow immediately afterwards in the Johnshaven Village Hall and join in giving a very warm welcome to the Rev Dempster and his family.
The newsletter also informs the congregation that, after a year, the renovation of the roof and stonework of St Cyrus Church is now complete. During that time various unforseen problems cropped up none of which, fortunately, affected the budget price. More recently the manse has also undergone considerable improvements to ensure that it is up to a high standard for the arrival of the new minister.
This Sunday's services will be held at the usual times of 10 a.m. in St Cyrus Church and 11.30 a.m. in Johnshaven Church.
Mearns Coastal Guild
Convener, Mrs Jean Cook, welcomed members of the Guild to their leisure hour in the Church Hall on Monday afternoon and introduced the well- known Mr Robert Gove from Gourdon who gave a fascinating talk on many aspects of the history of Benholm and Johnshaven ranging from the Keith family of Benholm to the building of the present Brotherton Castle and the Johnshaven lifeboat disaster of 1920. He was thanked by Mrs Cook.
The next meeting of the Guild will be in the Church Hall on Monday, March 8 at 2.30 p.m. when there will be a presentation on behalf of the Grampian Society for the Blind.
Looking further ahead, the Guild will be holding a daffodil tea in the Church Hall on Saturday, March 13 between 10 and 11.30 a.m. and then on Saturday, April 10 at 12 noon there will be a soup and sweet lunch in the Community Clubroom at Wairds Park.
World Day of Prayer
This year's World Day of Prayer Service for the south coastal parishes will be held in Johnshaven Church on Friday, March 5 at 2.30 p.m. The order of service has been written by the Christian women of Cameroon and gives the people of over 180 countries the opportunity of coming together for a common purpose.
On the west coast of Africa, with 240 ethnic groups, rich in natural resources and well known for its varied styles of music, Cameroon is well placed to take up the theme, "Let everything that has breath praise God."
All are invited to attend the service on March 5 and to join in with people all over the earth and all creation.
Bowling Club
The Bowling Club's recent outing in the Kincardineshire Indoor League was not one the rink of Ann Aitken, Alan Robbie, Alan Black and Bryan Duff will want to remember. In a one-sided local derby they were clobbered 22-2 by St Cyrus B.C. Languishing near the bottom of the table and in danger of being handed the wooden spoon, their last two matches are against Stonehaven Indoor Bowling Club on March 2 and Stonehaven B.C. on March 16. No problems there then!
Beach Clean-Up
Organiser, Rebecca Chambers, was absolutely delighted that, responding to her appeal, 30 brave volunteers, including children from Edzell Woods, Durris and St Cyrus, signed up for Sunday's clean-up of the beach to the north of the Brotherton Burn. As it turned out,, the weather in the afternoon could not have been better resulting in 1,127 bits of rubbish being collected filling 35 bags of which 72% was plastic and 8% metal. Among the more interesting objects were two traffic cones, a fire extinguisher and 20 metres of rope which required four people to remove from the beach.
After all the hard work was over it was along to the Lifeboat House for soup, hot dogs and cakes thanks to Maisie, Joyce, Wilma, Gerry and Sally.
The beach clean-ups are organised by SHARK (Safe Habitat Alliance for Rural Kincardineshire) in co-operation with Adopt a Beach and the Marine Conservation Society and supported by the Crown Estates and DEFRA, the next one being scheduled for May.
Memories
Nobody needs reminding that this has been one of the coldest winters on record, February being no better than any of the other months. It was a different story 25 years ago, though, when for the better part of the last two weeks of the month, unusually mild weather drew a few members of the Bowling Club away from their firesides along to the park to roll a bowl or two. On the Sunday, however, there was relative hive of activity when 15 bowlers took advantage of a particularly fine afternoon to get an early "rub of the green."
It was 25 years ago also that the three continental-type flats at the west end were all occupied, two of the new bungalows in South Street were completed and were awaiting residents, groundwork was underway at the former railway ground in preparation for the construction of a local authority housing development and work was ongoing at the conversion to flats of the former Donaldson building in the Square.
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Weather for Stonehaven
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: East
