Margaret Sutherland

The Kirk Session was saddened to lose two of its members, Calum Cumming who had been Session Clerk in St Stephen’s and Stan MacDonald a former Treasurer of the Old High Church.

In the past year the Kirk Session held four business meetings and a fifth, in St Stephen’s church hall, for the purpose of admitting six adherents into full membership of the church through profession of faith. The Session is composed of 59 elders, 34 men and 25 women and a Congregational Board, excluding elders, of 14 to represent the interests of a congregation of 674. We have 526 members, 148 adherents and 67 children. We lost 15 members through death and eight who left for a variety of reasons to join other congregations. Against that, we admitted fourteen new members, making a net loss in our number of nine.  We had seven baptisms and eight communions, distributed evenly between both churches as were morning services throughout the year. But the year that’s gone will be remembered less for statistics than for the way the lives of three men dominated the work and witness of Old High St Stephen’s in 2007.

First was our minister, the Rev Peter Nimmo. Peter fell victim to a debilitating illness early in the year and was on sick leave from January to January 2008. The Rev Douglas Clyne, Inverness-born and newly retired to Nairn from Fraserburgh where he had spent 32 years as minister of the Fraserburgh Old Church stepped into the breach and gave unstintingly of his time and talents to serve this church, first as a friend without official standing and then as interim moderator from July to January.  When Provost Bob Wynd, invited to lead his members at the Kirking of the Council, announced later an end to the centuries’ old tradition there was a public outcry and Douglas was first to the barricades. Presbytery became involved, the church’s primacy was established and at year’s end Peter and elder Ross Martin accepted an invitation to join a working party set up by the Council to consider how the ceremony might be reconfigured to better reflect modern times. 

It is appropriate, for the record, to note that during this period of concern for the health of Peter and Old High St Stephen’s, the heart of the church never missed a beat. It is a tribute to the strength in depth of the members of the Session and Congregational Board, to the heroic efforts of Douglas and to the system of committees and sub committees whose members under pin the work of the church -- Mission Group the Care Group, Sunday School, Youth Group, Events Group and the Worship and Education Group.  Christine MacKenzie, faithfully kept contact with the bigger picture as our Presbytery elder and a smaller more intimate picture was portrayed with each of the six Newsletters edited by Ken Cantlay.

Presbytery’s Quinquennial team visited the congregation in 2007 and congratulated it on its work.  They did however encourage office-bearers to carry out a parish visitation and arrangements for this are in hand with the printing of an Easter Card to be distributed throughout our parish.

Margaret Sutherland, deputy session clerk, was appointed session clerk in succession to long serving Sandy Cumming, who had tendered his resignation in 2006. Graeme Moffat retired after 25 years as Christian Aid organiser for the “Old High” part of the parish and was warmly thanked for his work.

One of the features of Old High Stephen’s which regularly appeals beyond the usual congregation is the summer evening services featuring high profile speakers from commerce, politics and academia as well as the wider church. This year we were particularly well served by the Rev Ewan Aitken (former Leader of Edinburgh City Council), the Rev Sheilagh Kesting (Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland) and Sir Tom Farmer, entrepreneur and millionaire whose deep faith and modest bearing won him a standing ovation.

Music continues to play a major part in the life of the church, from concerts and recitals in aid of the Old High organ fund to setting up a hand bell ringing club and playing host to the Stockton Chorale from California. The Old High was a favoured venue for music celebrating the Year of Highland Culture. On that musical note the Organ Fund now stands at £6723 after paying a 5% deposit of £7931 when the order was placed. Old High St Stephen’s continued to hold Prayers for Justice and Peace every Friday at 1pm. The Church took part in an initiative launched by Riverside Churches promoting the work of Artists-in-Residence, hosting work by Mr Geoff Broadway and was also involved in The Academy, a new adult learning opportunity sponsored jointly by Crown Church, St John’s Episcopal, St Ninian’s Catholic, Ness Bank and St Andrew’s Cathedral.

Old High St. Stephen’s could not function without the support of those who labour unseen and mainly unrecorded in a multitude of tasks, individually of modest significance, but collectively of paramount importance in keeping Old High St. Stephen’s to the fore in Christian work and witness . 

To one and all, and you know who you are, a most sincere “Thank You”.