Now that the weather is a little improved and the days are lengthening (Anglo-Saxon lencten from which we get out word Lent – meaning lengthening days), the St Andrew’s tower is starting to rise again up through the scaffolding – thanks everyone.
The St Finnbarr’s Charities Shop in Dornoch is now on Winter opening hours (though subject to short notice closure as a result of the weather).
The opening hours are Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.
The shop has been reorganised and has a New Look for the New Year and a half price sale for the month of January.
It would be appreciated that if you have been saving donations of items for the shop that you drop them off during opening times only and in fairly small quantities as we have limited storage space.
We look forward to welcoming everybody in the coming weeks, meanwhile keep safe.
Today at St Andrew’s, the wise men came bearing gifts and singing their solos. We were fortunate to have three excellent male voices to sing verses 2-4 of “We three Kings“, wearing crowns and presenting their gifts and also to have a very helpful young person to welcome them to the stable, put them in position and their gifts at the foot of the Incarnated God. Well done Seumas, Alex, Jamie and Carly, we all loved it.
This afternoon we had a splendid Service of Readings and Carols enjoyed by a fairly full church drawn from right across the area. There were readers from several local churches and fellowships and a selection of traditional and other favourite carols. Afterwards there was a collection for the Samaritans which raised almost £140.
The service was followed by seasonal refreshments – mince pies, Christmas cake, shortbread washed down with mulled wine or spiced apple juice. It was wonderful to see so many people on a wet, slippery, slushy afternoon – well done everyone.
A huge thanks to all those who helped to make it the wonderful afternoon that it was and those who have helped to decorate the Church in the last couple of days and of course to Campbell for accompanying the carols on the organ..
Although we haven’t quite reached our funding target of £160,000, we’re almost there thanks to the generosity of many individuals and grants from organisations, including the Benefact Trust, the Edderton Community Council the National Churches Trust and an SEC Provincial Buildings Grant and the proceeds from Jamie’s wonderful organ recital. Two thirds of the money raised has come from members of the congregation and other supporters (which is awesome), whilst the remaining third has come from the four organisations listed.
The old tower has been taken down and an identical replacement is nearing completion in Peter’s steading. When that has been finished (by the end of December), it will be disassembled and brought down to St Andrew’s for reassembly starting w/b 9th January.
Note that the tower is being built on it’s side because it‘s too tall to fit vertically in the steading, the bottom of the tower is at the same end as the joiner with the orange jacket. The annotated photo has been rotated to show what it will be like!
The weather vain and bell are at the workshop off site being repaired at the moment. The bearings on the bell will need slight attention and also new bolting arrangements as the original ones were all rotten. A new central rod will need replaced for the weather vane and re-threaded along with some welding of the cast parts on the top.
We all look forward to the day when the scaffolding is taken away and we have the whole church back. Perhaps in February.
Following special collections for Tain Food Bank at St Finnbarr’s Dornoch and St Andrew’s Tain last Sunday a good amount of foodstuffs and a cash donation of £110 was offered by the congregations.
As one might expect, the food bank is increasingly busy (especially with fuel prices so high and people trying to factor in the Christmas season too). Further donations to the Food Bank are always welcome, but a big THANK YOU to all who have given so generously so far!
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NATIONAL CHURCHES TRUST
ISSUE DATE: December 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Images: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/8y0EqKQsJC
St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in the Conservation Area of Tain, Scotland, is at risk of losing its bell tower unless urgent action is taken. After the belfry was inspected, wet rot was discovered – making the tower extremely unstable.
The decaying timbers have made the bell tower unsafe; indoor scaffolding has been swiftly erected to support the beams, but the main door of the church sadly cannot now be used.
As the weather gets worse, further deterioration of the tower is inevitable and it puts the incredible heritage inside this church at risk.
Thankfully, help is on hand. The much-loved Grade B church is to share in a £496,625 urgent funding pay-out from the National Churches Trust.
A £5,160 National Churches Trust Grant will help to pay for urgent repairs to the bell tower, ensuring the church can thrive today and tomorrow. The church also receives a £10,000 Wolfson Fabric Repair Grant from the Wolfson Foundation, on the recommendation of the National Churches Trust.
Once the belltower is made safe again, the St Andrew’s has plans to increase access to the church so that more people can visit the church and enjoy the wonderful heritage and local history the church has to share.
“The National Churches Trust is excited to be able to support St Andrew’s church to enable them to carry out urgent bell tower repairs to their building. Not only will this protect this important heritage, but it will help to keep the church building open and serving local people.”
“Whether seeking quiet reflection, access to community services or a place to worship, the National Churches Trust helps hundreds of churches each year and with the support of local people, keeps them thriving today and tomorrow.”
“St Andrew’s has wonderful heritage inside – including a unique collection of ‘Mousey’ furniture. Once the bell tower is made safe, we are excited for the plans that St Andrew’s has to welcome even more visitors to this historic church.”
“Churches sit in the heart of their communities and provide unrivalled support to local people. We are delighted to continue to partner with the National Churches Trust to help conserve and restore listed places of worship of outstanding historical and architectural significance, preserving these much-loved buildings for future generations to enjoy.”
Rev Canon James Currall, Priest-in-Charge of St Andrew’s, said:
“We are all very grateful to the National Churches Trust and the Wolfson Foundation for so generously helping us to safeguard our wonderful church for the benefit of current and future generations of worshippers and townspeople in Tain and the many who visit our historic Royal Burgh.”
“Members of our congregation, as well as a number of organisations and people in and around Tain have been very generous in helping us to raise a substantial amount of money and this additional significant grant will help towards closing the funding gap and restoring the tower.”
“Once the scaffolding has been removed, we look forward to developing the grounds to provide a prayer walk, with benches for people to pray or sit in quiet contemplation.”
The belltower will be made safe again. This will include dismantling the belfry – retaining the weather cock and bell and salvaging the slate where possible – and then replacing the beams and rebuilding the belfry to the original specification.
St Andrew’s church replaced an iron corrugated church built on the same plot in 1878. The present building was designed by Ross and Macbeth of Inverness in 1887, and it is situated in a beautiful conservation area.
Inside the church, you’ll find many treasures. This includes one of the few unaltered F Hamilton organs that dates back to 1914. There is also a unique collection of Mousey Thompson furniture from Robert Thompson of Yorkshire. These designs can be found on the lectern, the pulpit, the altar rail and even the screen behind the high altar itself. More on the Mousey collection here: https://episcopaldornochtain.org/tain-mousey-thompson/
Forty churches across the UK will stay open and in good repair thanks to £496,625 of funding awarded and recommended by the National Churches Trust in this latest round of grants. Find out about all the churches we’ve helped in this latest round of grants here.
In 2023, the National Churches Trust has so far made over 180 grant awards to churches throughout the United Kingdom, with funding totalling more than £1.4 million.
Moving into 2024, National Churches Trust will continue to help churches through our extensive grants programme. Grants are available for churches of any Christian denomination that are open for regular worship to fund urgent repairs, maintenance, installing toilets or kitchens and feasibility studies to develop projects. Full details are at: https://nationalchurchestrust.org/grants
Yesterday evening a packed St Andrew’s, Tain was treated to a stunning exhibition of virtuoso organ playing. Jamie Campbell was giving a recital to help raise funds for the St Andrew’s Belfry Tower repair appeal, and what a recital it was. Jamie introduced each set of pieces in his own informative and humorous style and I for one learned a great deal. (the programme can be found in this post)
The audience made up of people from 9 months to over 90 years old, listened spellbound to a varied programme of old favourites and newer pieces, including an improvisation on “Yes Jesus loves me” by Jamie himself composed in the last few days.
There were splendid refreshments at the interval when the kitchen team managed to get everyone fed and watered in a very short time,
Behind every good organist there has to be an attentive and organised page turner, and Molly did an excellent job, ensuring that each score was ready when it was needed and turning the page at the merest nod from Jamie.
To cap it all almost £800 was added to the repair appeal.
An enormous thank you to Jamie and Molly, to everyone who helped to get things ready, keep things running smoothly and clear away afterwards – these things don’t just happen – and to all those who came along and contributed so generously.
The ceremonies and commemoration on Remembrance Sunday take a wide variety of forms in different communities.
In Tain this morning we started with an Act of Remembrance and two minutes silence at 11am and after our Eucharist, joined the parade from the Parish Church to the war memorial in the Collegiate Church where many wreaths were laid.
This afternoon in Brora we prayed for peace and for healing.
Scottish Episcopal Church - Dornoch, Lairg, Brora, Tain & Tongue 