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Autumn 2001 Newsletter of
Monikie and Newbigging Church.

SERVICES (at 10.30 a.m. unless otherwise)

September

• 2nd - Newbigging - Sacrament of baptism and Mr. Dougal Edwards of the Scottish Bible Society.  Coffee to follow.
• 9th - Monikie
• 16th - Newbigging
• 23rd - Monikie
• 30th - Newbigging

October

• 7th - Newbigging
• 14th - Monikie
• 21st - Newbigging
• 28th - Monikie - Harvest Thanksgiving

CHRISTIAN AID
Thanks to everyone who supported the work of Christian Aid.  A total of £260 was raised.

NEWSPAPER COLLECTION
As already mentioned by the Minister, our Church has been collecting old newspapers. The sum of £77.00 was raised for Church funds from the sale of the waste newspapers collected over the past year.  It is perhaps not a huge amount of money but the only effort required is to bundle together the papers we have no more use for.

COPPER ROAD
Another item of small fund raising is the 'Copper Road'.  We have a long way to go before we have enough 1-pences or 2-pences to stretch between the two Churches.  So this is a reminder that there are collection boxes in both Churches for your small change, although the treasurer won't mind if you put in some of your larger change as well!

CIRCLE OF CARE CALENDARS
September is Social Responsibility Month.  One way you can help the Church of Scotland Board of Social Responsibility is by purchasing a Circle of Care Calendar for 2002, price £3.  Orders are being taken at present and anyone wishing to buy a calendar should let Janet Sim know as soon as possible.  Also as mentioned in a previous newsletter, 'Caring for You' roses are available from James Cocker & Sons, Aberdeen.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
November
11th - Remembrance Sunday.  Service in Monikie Church at 10.30am and at Monikie Memorial Hall at 12 noon.  Retiring Collection for Earl Haig Fund.
25th - Communion Services. Monikie Church in the morning and Newbigging Church in the evening.
December
1st - The Christmas Fayre is to be held in Monikie Memorial Hall.

THE KIRK WALK
Some 40 enthusiasts boarded the bus in Newbigging and Monikie on Saturday 18th August to enjoy another walk - by now, I suppose, an annual event in our Kirk life.  Normally featuring in late May - early June this year's walk was delayed until the foot & mouth disease restrictions on access had been sufficiently eased.  The bus took the walkers - including some eight school pupils - to a point just south of Kirkton of Glenisla where they set out on the track to Glenmarkie Lodge in some fine warm weather with clear skies, - how often can we remain so blessed?  So far, on every occasion!

After a pause to make sure we were all together we set off round the Lodge area and over a short stretch of rough moorland to enter the Moss of Glanny and on past the steading glorying in the name of 'Hole' to enter Drumshade Plantation.  Emerging from the trees we were soon on the highest point of the walk and looking down on Glen Prosen and over to the Clova Hills.  We were well ahead of schedule and able to encourage those who fancied a further 5km from Glen Prosen village to Glen Clova over the Minister's Road to press ahead while the rest after resting in the heather, made their leisurely way down to the Spott Brig where the bus was due to pick us up.

Some took advantage of the chance of a wash in the Prosen Water and a general tidy up before joining the bus for the trip down the glen and up Clova to the pick-up point for the athletes walking the Minister's Road.  We all enjoyed sandwiches and soup - and whatever else - in Clova Hotel before the journey home after a great day out, - we nearly left without our minister!  The rain started about halfway home and continued heavily for the next 24 hours - had we been lucky again?!

Many thanks to all walkers and supporters and to my son, Colin, for producing the route maps which helped to ensure that we all got back together!
Sandy McKay.

Miss Isabell Gibson Mackie WILSON
Churchgoers may recall that they were earlier this year asked to sign a card to send to 'Molly' in New Hampshire, U.S.A. on the occasion of her 94th
birthday.  Molly, properly called, Isabell Gibson Mackie WILSON, was born in Cunmont Cottages (now 55 Pitairlie Road, Mrs. Low) on 29 January 1908.  A few of the residents of Newbigging today can recall the Wilson family and their saddler's shop.  Molly left Newbigging in 1927 for a new life in the U.S.A. where she became Mrs. Mason.  She had children, grand-children and great-grandchildren.  Regrettably, Molly died in her sleep on 5th June 2001 at the age of 94 years.

PARISH REGISTER

MARRIAGE( Mark 10: 7-9)
May
- 12th - Rodney Foreman to Tracy Hamilton, 62 School Road, Kintore

FUNERALS (John 12:24)

May
- 1st - George Stewart, 33 Sanderson Place, Newbigging
-9th - Dick Sutherland, Douglaswood, Monikie
-11th - Douglas Mustard, West Hillhead, Monikie
June
- 6th - Gertrude MacAskill, Antiquary House, Arbroath
- 21st - George Cuthill, Denfind, Monikie
- 26th - Annie Milne, Seaton Grove, Arbroath
July
- 20th -Ailene Eisler, 20 Kingennie Road, Wellbank

IN MEMORIAM

George Stewart
George was a man of many interests.  He was a Church Elder and Board Member.  George loved music and played the organ.  What George did was done well.
Dick Sutherland
Dick was a talented artist and teacher. He loved the country and its pursuits. As a man Dick was honest and straightforward.
Douglas Mustard
Doug was a popular out-going man and had that rare quality of being a good listener.  He was devoted to farming and family.  Doug supported the
Horticultural Society and the Memorial Hall.
Gertrude MacAskill
Mrs MacAskill lived and worked in Arbroath and surrounding area.  For twenty years she stayed in Canada.  Gertie was a quiet lady who had a long, good and busy life.
George Cuthill
Dod was a man of the land good with horses.  He was skilled with his hands and this was seen in the many models he made from memory.  At work, Dod always ploughed a straight furrow.
Annie Milne
Mrs. Milne was a good mum.  From an early age she had a talent for music and the love of singing. Annie was skilled at knitting and enjoyed reading.
Ailene Eisler
For 38 years Mrs. Eisler taught at Monikie and Tealing schools.  She loved Angus, its nature, history and people.  Ailene for many years corresponded
with the mission partner of our church overseas.

MALAWI
Parents often feel lonely when members of their family work in far away places, but the compensation is being able to visit and seeing places they would be unlikely to see otherwise.  Our son Alastair, is at present working in Malawi and we went there to see him this summer. He is based in the capital, Lilongwe, where he has a charming house and large garden.  During our 3-week stay, Alastair took us on three very different trips.  In the south to the Zomba Plateau, very high up.  We stayed at a Forest Lodge, up a very steep forest road, so high up it was misty and cold, it even rained!  The scenery was magnificent, like the north of Scotland - one of the roads reminded me of the road between Gairloch & Poolewe, but on a much, much longer scale and scrub instead of heather.  The main roads are tarred but with unexpected bare and very bumpy bits where the tar has been washed away - not to mention some very dicey bridges with no railings.

There were always lots of people walking about or cycling and the better off had bullock carts. Roadside villages had many stalls where people were
selling everything from clothes to fruit and vegetables.  Malawi is a very poor country, the people are mainly subsistence farmers, we passed lots of small farms on our trip, although people living close to Lilongwe sell their vegetables and potatoes to traders from the town.  Tobacco, some cotton and coffee are the main cash crops but are doing too well just now.  We went to a wonderful game park in Zambia and saw elephants, lions, giraffes, hippos, zebra as well as less attractive animals like iguanas, baboons and vultures.

Lake Malawi was a beautiful sight; so large you can't see the other side and its sandy beaches and palm trees make it really exotic.  On our journeys in that part of the country we passed EKWENDENI, which would interest Monikie & Newbigging Church members.  After phoning to see if it was
convenient, we called on Lesley and Nelu Balaj.  Lesley is our missionary partner and works at the Nurses' Training School at Ekwendeni Hospital.  She
showed us round the classroom, practice room and library, they had lots of books but are always happy to be given more, but they must be up to date
nursing books, old ones are useless.  The nurses are trained to enrolled nurse level.  It was exam time when we were there and they were studying.  We
saw one of the bedrooms shared by four girls, their laundry and kitchen where two 'mamas' were cooking on wood burning stoves.  The students have
very little free time and are not allowed out after 6pm but they have a big recreation room with games and jigsaw puzzles, which are the popular thing at the moment.  Lesley hopes to get them a TV soon.  We were also taken to see the children's ward, not busy at that time but we saw a baby, very ill, on a drip and a little boy waiting for an operation after being burned.  There are lots of these cases as life revolves around the open cooking fire and many people get burned.  It is a big problem in Malawi.  We were taken around the maternity ward.  Some woman were awaiting the birth, others had lovely little babies.

We were just in time to see Lesley as her contract ends in a few weeks and by now they will be at home.
M. Anton

GLASGOW COMMON PRAYER INITIATIVE
Glasgow Churches Together launched a Common Prayer Initiative in March this year and are inviting individuals, groups and parishes from all denominations across Scotland to use the same prayer texts as part of their pattern of prayer. Glasgow Churches Together hope that the Common Prayer Initiative will help Christians to take a significant step to increase the respect, love and good relationships among our Churches.  Stephen Smyth,
the Ecumenical Officer for Glasgow Churches Together said, "we have experienced an encouraging change for the better in the work of ecumenism in
our area.  One significant factor in this change has been the increase in people from across the churches coming together for prayer and action.  We
are convinced that, in order to further the work of ecumenism, we need to pray more together."

September
God of All Creation, praying, in oneness, with all my/our Christian sisters and brothers in this area.
I/we thank you for the abundant fruits of the earth and for the fruits of all good people whose productive lives spread the love of God and neighbour
Let this prayer echo throughout my/our day.
In Jesus name. Amen

October
God of All Hope, praying, in oneness with all my/our Christian sisters and brothers in this area I/we celebrate the growing sense of unity among the followers of Jesus in our time.  May all that we are and all that we do together flourish, as we strive to obey your Word and to praise your Name.
Let this prayer echo throughout my/our day.
In Jesus' name. Amen.

LIFE & WORK

Make Life & Work a starting point for discussions.
Life & Work has undergone radical changes in content and design over the past year and has enjoyed a much higher profile within the Church and in the
media. It is known for tackling controversial issues.  Recent promotional material for Life & Work includes these statements.  Some items this month (September) and in future editions include:-

The Future of the Church
A major new series begins in the September edition of Life & Work.  Radical new proposals to re-shape the Kirk, approved by the General Assembly, will be debated at every level of the church this autumn and winter.  From September to November Life & Work will enter the debate with an analysis of the blueprint "Church without walls" and its real implications for the church at local and national level; a look at the leadership structures of the national church; the training of ministers; the acceptance of women ministers and the meaning of membership.

What Kind of Scotland do we want to Live in?
That's a question being put to the people of Scotland this summer in a unique consultation, organised jointly by the Scottish Executive and Scottish Civic Forum.  Its aim is to make a Scottish contribution to the World Summit being held in Johannesburg in September 2002 ten years on from the 1992 Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro.  The consultation is supported by all sectors of Scottish society, including Action of Churches Together in Scotland, and the Society Religion and Technology Project is on the organising team.  Civic Forum want to hear not just from the experts but from the people, including the churches, your church.

In 10 years, what progress has been made towards building a sustainable future for Scotland? How can we improve Scotland's environment - land, water, air?  What future do we want for our agriculture and fisheries - where should our food come from, and what sort of food should it be?  We also want to know your views about wider issues - how to build communities, work towards eliminating poverty, promote health and education, find better ways of transport, what are sustainable life styles?  On any of these issues, here's your chance to say:

• what have we achieved in ten years; what have we failed to do?
• what should we do next, for a sustainable future for Scotland?
• what values should shape that future?
• what sort of society and environment should we strive to achieve?

ACTS encourages both churches and individuals to take part.  Please tell your church members, put it in the church magazine, ask the Guild or the youth
group to discuss it - whatever fits your situation.  We'd like the churches to play a full part in telling the Scottish Executive - and the wider world - what sort of Scotland we want.
The deadline for replies is the end of September.  There are two ways to respond : -
Give your views online through an interactive Internet website at - http://www.futurescotland.com
Write a reply : send as many replies as you like to: -
Scottish Civic Forum, 21 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JX. Phone - (0131) 225 6789 for more information.

  Information and copies of Life and Work are available from M. Riddick, (01382) 370482.

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