You may not have noticed that beneath the seats in St Finnbarr’s there are seventy tapestry kneelers with highland themes. They were designed and made over a twelve year period from 1981-1993 by fourteen members of the congregation.

Of these, 12 are mammals, 16 are birds, 9 are plants, 1 is a fish and 1 is a fungus.

During the Season of Creation (1st September until 4th October) many of these ones are on display along the front of the communion rail for all to admire, both the beauty of creation and the skill of the 14 people who lovingly crafted them.

During the Season of Creation, members of the congregation of and visitors to St Andrews, Tain are invited to write their prayers for Creation and Climate Justice on ‘leaves’ and hang them on the tree in the porch.

Over the month, the bare 2020 Christmas Tree will acquire new leaves and take on a new life.

During the Season of Creation a splendid banner will announce the season outside St Andrew’s, Tain.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this project, the result is testament to the creativity and industry of all involved.

On Saturday Carol took the charity stall outside the Tain Service Point and sold Scarves and Cards. The cards were donated and the scarves were lovingly knitted by Renata who until her death in 2020 was a member of St Andrew’s congregation.

Having been homeless herself at one time, Renata was very keen to alleviate homelessness in others and so the money raised will go to assist in that cause.

If anyone didn’t get the opportunity to buy on Saturday, both cards and scarves are available in St Andrew’s on Sunday mornings.

Well done Carol and thanks to everyone who contributed.

In St Andrew’s on Sunday we welcomed Edward (Ted) Knott into the Christian Family in Baptism.

He seemed to enjoy the experience as did his Parents and God Parents after the Service.

In the July 1981 edition of the ‘Scots Magazine’ there was a feature on the ecclesiastical work of Robert Thompson to be found in Scotland. Robert was the ‘Mouseman’ from Kilburn in Yorkshire who made exquisite oak furnishings complete with his trademark mouse crawling over it. It was Robert and his descendants who made many of the oak furnishings and fittings in St Andrew’s Tain. The article has a short piece about St Andrews and our thanks to Campbell for digging the article out for us. The bit about St Andrew’s follows:

“We now return to the mainland, and cross Easter Ross to the ancient Royal Burgh of Tain on the Dornoch Firth. Here is the church of St Andrew, a lovely little building dating from Victorian times and adorned with more than one mouse.

In 1936 Robert [Thompson] installed the reredos, and his work on these is always worth examining closely. At the same time he fitted the altar rails, and what better tribute to him can be found than that from a Kent lady who tells me that she never passes through Tain without popping into St Andrew’s Church to see ‘the neat little mouse carved under a rail.” A lengthy enough mouse-hunting journey for anyone!

The congregation of the church must have been satisfied, too, because in 1967 they commissioned the grandsons Cartwright¹ to carve a lectern and later to fashion a pulpit.”

• ¹ The sons of Percy and Elsie Cartwright (Robert Thompson’s daughter), John and Robert, joined the family business when they left school at 15 and worked under the supervision of their grandfather Robert Thompson until his death in December 1955 when they took over.