We have had another busy couple of days here.
My parents, other brother and my granny (my mum's mum) all came down on Saturday. It is the first time my granny has been off the island in nearly 6 years!
Here she is with my younger brother (standing) and her seven great-grandsons. (She has two great grand-daughters too, my cousin's girls, who live down south)
The reason she has made the momentous journey is that the church's annual General Assembly is on all this week down here, and my dad has been elected to be the Moderator. The Moderator changes each year, is chosen by the other ministers and has usually been in the ministry for around 25 years or so. He is the chairman for the Assembly, where various reports are given of work done in the church over the last year, mission reports and other sorts of minutae of business.
The Assembly starts on Monday evening with an address given by the previous year's Moderator, and then the new Moderator takes the chair. The Moderator's family have a reserved seat right at the front of the church. Not ideal when you have four boys to keep still! Plus my brother's three boys! They all behaved impeccably, thankfully.
After all this there is a reception for those taking part in the Assembly and the guests of the Moderator. It was lovely to see a good number of people from my dad's congregation had made the journey down to share the occasion with him.
The reception was held in the rather grand Edinburgh City Chambers.
After some food there were a few speeches given by people chosen by my dad. Once again, all the boys behaved well, despite their late night.
James did his usual expert job of keeping Alasdair entertained....
...and I think they may have broken a few hearts with how handsome they looked!
More information about the Assembly can be found here.
I've been forgetting to add this the last week or two....
Gaelic word of the day:
eaglais (egg-leesh) - church
an Eaglais Shaor na h-Alba (an egg-leesh hiir na h-alaba) - the Free Church of Scotland
They're lovely :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful photo with your granny and so many of her great-grandchildren. that's just amazing - worth leaving the island for!
Kirsteen, That is amazing! Wonderful pictures w/ great grandmother! Off of which island did she come?....(excuse my ignorance...)I'm looking forward to reading the address made by your father...I see they have it transcribed.
ReplyDeleteYour boys are indeed handsome! Very great pictures!
Have a grand day!
Keri, we are from the Hebridean island of Lewis, the same one as Anne, above.
ReplyDeleteAll my family are still there, with the exception of my married brother who lives down the road from us here.
Ah...I had made the connection that you knew Anne, but didn't know how/why/etc...Hearing from you two makes me want to visit! Your descriptions (your's of Scotland and Anne's of Lewis Island)are so lovely, and I'd love to see the inspiration for Mendelssohn's Overture. Maybe someday!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post! I do so love to learn about your part of the world!
ReplyDeleteBridget in Minnesota
Kirsteen,
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to listen to your father's address. I really appreciated what he said! 'Twas a great sermon!