The three day fund raising event that St Margaret’s and our Ecumenical Partners, Rosyth Methodist Church held on Friday the 8th, Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th May. There were three events, a flower festival, a craft fayre and a Sunday @ Six Songs of Praise. This joint venture made £600 wh
ich is going towards the joint Net Zero project. At the Ecumenical Songs of Praise 65 people attended.
We now have 64 solar panels on the roof of the church and the next part of our Net Zero adventure is underway – to fund raise to help pay for the heat pumps which will heat the Sanctuary and the church halls. The Methodists have led this project and it is wonderful to see the solar panels on the roof and both churches coming together to ‘serve the common good’.
The three events were exhausting but very worthwhile. My Methodist ‘buddie’ Lorraine Wilkinson and myself conceived and planned the three events months in advance and things just took off!! Lorraine is a dynamo and spurred me on to try and be likewise.
I wrote out to the Revd Mary Ann, minister at Dunfermline Abbey, asking if some of her choir would mind coming along to join our wee choir to help us raise the roof at our Songs of Praise. Not only did some members of the Abbey choir come to join us but they brought some of the Kingdom singers too. I was so excited when the Abbey choirs director of music, Matthew Beetschen emailed me to say that three sopranos, two altos, one tenor and two bass singers would be coming! Willie Campbell (assistant musical director of the Abbey choir) also emailed me saying that a couple of the Kingdom Singers would be coming too, so you can imagine how excited an ageing chorister felt getting that news!
On the 7th May, I spent all day in the church putting together 8 floral arrangements which complemented the hymns we were singing at the Songs of Praise : How Great Thou Art, Brother, Sister Let Me Serve You, The Hebridean Gloria, As The Deer Pants For The Water, Shine Jesus Shine, I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say, and Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.
My Methodist partner Lorraine came to the church straight after work and very quickly and skillfully created 4 extra floral arrangements entitled ‘Here I Am Lord’, ‘For The Beauty Of The Earth, ‘Consider The Lilies Of The Field’ and a lovely mid size arrangement for Guide me O thou my great redeemer.
On Wednesday the 6th May, two of the children who attend ‘Messy Church’ came along after school with their Gran to create a floral arrangement entitled ‘Noah Built The Ark’. The adult helpers thought that our two youngsters would enjoy making the rainbow, which was the backdrop for the flower arrangement (using much glue and coloured tissue paper) but not a bit of it! The cry was “When can I stick in the flowers”? Needless to say, their creation was ‘epic’.
Everyone was so inventive who helped me with the flowers. I want to give a big ‘shout out to Jacqueline (who is RMC’s secretary). I have started working much more closely with Jacqueline since the beginning of this venture. To me this is a real blessing. Jacqueline brought along little posies to sell. These went quickly and I am so grateful to her for doing this. I am also inspired and full of ideas for Harvest Thanksgiving, thanks to the ‘brain storming sessions’ we both had during the flower festival.
The Craft Fayre was pretty epic too! This was arranged by Lorraine Wilkinson. She is a brilliant crafter, who knows a lot of local crafters who make everything from jewellery, knitwear and patchwork wreaths, sweets, and wooden coasters. St Margaret’s had a book stall, which did really well, making about £60 to put into the pot! Thanks to Linda Sherwood and Charlotte Leslie for manning the stall.
The teas and coffees were served in great style. The coffee was served in Cafetières which looked rather posh and the cakes were ‘out of this world’. The cafe literally went like a fayre! My special gratitude goes to Gwyneth, Olive, Jean and Lorraine who worked so hard in the kitchen. Everyone who came to the Flower Festival, Craft Fayre, and Songs of Praise loved the cake and companionship!
I believe that God was in attendance at all three events; standing with me while I arranged the flowers, pointing out to the boys the best place to put the flowers to make Noah’s Ark look a riot of colour, sitting with those who enjoyed refreshments and lastly everyone who raised the roof during Songs of Praise. It was awesome!
My sincere thanks goes to the members of Forth view parish (formally known as Rosyth parish Church of Scotland), especially to Margaret Clarke who came to all three events. Rosyth Baptist Church, Dunfermline North parish, Church of Scotland, St Finian’s Episcopal Church, Lochgelly, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Dunfermline, The Abbey Choir, Dunfermline, The Kingdom Singers, and lastly, but by no means least, Chris Johnson, who played the organ so magnificently. A big thank you goes to Dorissia Forsyth who knows Chris. She was instrumental in asking Chris to play for the event. Chris is the organist at St Martin’s de tour, Episcopal church in Edinburgh.
Finally, before I come down to earth, I must thank Lorraine Wilkinson, the human pocket rocket! Without her creativity, her ability to draw people together (to do stupendous things), and her humour, humility and her cake and scones, I think I would have been a nervous wreck! Also, a big thanks to Mr Tarr for his computer and photocopying skills.v Special thanks to Revd. Canon Richard Grosse for all his support, especially clearing up the messy kitchen, attending all three of the events, and keeping me sane!
The Abbey’s director of music, has asked when we can do another Songs of Praise. I have a list of both Methodist and St Margaret’s congregations’ favourite hymns so look out for another SONGS OF PRAISE!
Can I also just point out that St Margaret’s Rosyth is finally working towards being a Net Zero congregation, ticking off at least three things from this years 5 year plan and moving closer towards working with our Methodist partners.
Valerie Leslie 11.05.26
