Category Archives: News

June 27

Today is Armed Forces Day, when the country is encouraged to think about, and show its appreciation for, our Armed Forces. Usually there will be events around the country to mark it, and Dumbarton hosts it for West Dunbartonshire Council from time to time. No events this year because of the virus, but still an opportunity to think about the service personnel and their families. Different people may have different opinions on the tasks the military are deployed to do, but the men and women in the military are human beings like the rest of us. Some join up because life has not been good for them, and they want a new start; some encounter traumas that leave them mentally scarred, if not physically scarred; many experience long periods away from home and family; some experience difficulty in adjusting to civilian life when they are demobbed. We’re thinking of you, we appreciate you

Lord, we pray for all who are part of the armed forces, and their families. Support them through their hard times. Guide those who deploy and lead them to use them to bring peace and justice to your world, and to think of their personal needs too

PS Next week we go to Cowal, and visit Benmore Gardens (disembarkation? Dunoon, Kirk, or one of the Holy Loch piers – Hunter’s Quay, Ardnadam, Kilmun or Strone)

June 26

End of term, end of school year. What a term, what a year! Thanks to all the school staff and volunteers who have helped to keep the education system going (albeit in a different way) over the last few months. Good wishes to all the pupils and parents/ guardians. All the best for planning for the new session

Lord, thanks for the commitment of school staff and parents/ guardians trying to keep the education system going during lockdown. We pray that they may have a suitable rest before the new session starts. We pray too for all the pupils, particularly those moving on to a new phase in their lives, and those whose education fell behind in recent months

June 26

End of term, end of school year. What a term, what a year! Thanks to all the school staff and volunteers who have helped to keep the education system going (albeit in a different way) over the last few months. Good wishes to all the pupils and parents/ guardians. All the best for planning for the new session

Lord, thanks for the commitment of school staff and parents/ guardians trying to keep the education system going during lockdown. We pray that they may have a suitable rest before the new session starts. We pray too for all the pupils, particularly those moving on to a new phase in their lives, and those whose education fell behind in recent months

June 25

The newspaper headlines today are celebrating when people will be able to go to pubs, the hairdressers, art galleries, on holiday. For it all to happen on the planned dates, infection rates must stay low. That requires people to be sensible, careful and think about others. Most of the population meet those requirements all the time, though we can all have occasional ‘blips’. Some are less sensible, careful and thoughtful about others. How do we encourage them to be thoughtful and considerate, without being interfering so-and-sos?

Lord, it is encouraging to think that we might be able to do things we haven’t been able to do for months. Help us to remember that the virus is still about, so we must be careful and vigilant at all times. Help us to respond appropriately when people are not being so sensible

June 24

Talk about Sex and the City! There were strange noises in the garden late last night. Investigating with a torch confirmed that two hedgehogs were indeed getting friendly. (What a chat-up line: “Here hen, d’ye wan a date doon by the compost heap?”) All fitted exactly with the text-book information on hedgehogs. Humanity has seen its world turned upside down over the last few months, but the rest of nature goes on with its business in the usual way, oblivious of us. At times humanity likes to think that the world revolves around it. Maybe we need to get ourselves in the proper perspective

Lord, thank you for the world around us. We are blessed with many good things, but sometimes we get above ourselves, and think that we are masters of the universe, never mind the earth. Help us to see ourselves in  perspective, and to see our true place amid the rest of nature

Pictures: CPR Empress (not sure which) 1960s QE2 1994

June 23

Yesterday we reflected on the ‘new normal’. Today we are reminded of the ‘old normal’: it’s raining, it’s not awfully warm, the rest of the country is roasting, while we can look forward to usual ‘start of the school holidays’ weather! But the school holidays will not be the same as they usually are: people will not be heading off abroad this week or weekend; children have not had the usual ‘summer term’ teaching and activities; some have struggled to keep themselves occupied for the weeks of lockdown with sunshine, how will the cope in the rain?; and there is the question of ‘holiday hunger’ (some steps are being taken to help, but will children have all that they really need?) Some things are new, some things are unchanged

Lord, some things have changed unrecognisably because of the pandemic, but some things stay the same. Help us to cope with the change, and to work to resolve the ongoing challenges in our community and country. Thank you that you never change, and are always faithful and true

Photos are Ark Royal and Invincible

June 22

While sifting through old photos yesterday to scan for this week’s Tail of the Bank shots I came across some photos from Primary School days. When in P5 I went on a school trip to Belgium, starting with the overnight train to London. There we were on the station platform, hours after we usually went to bed, dressed in school uniform – boys in caps, girls in panama hats! One girl had her woolly scarf on, even though it was June! How long ago and far away that world seems. So much has changed in the interim. So much has changed in the world since this year started, and though lockdown restrictions are slowly being eased, we are not going back to where we were. In some ways the post-Covid 19 world of later 2020 will seem as far removed from what we knew as the year started as that photograph from 19?? seems from now

Lord, we don’t know what the ‘new normal’ will be like, but help us to accept it and adjust to it, and start looking forwards, not to a past that cannot be recovered

June 20

This weekend sees Midsummer. Restrictions on movement started before the Equinox, and we were in lockdown by the time the clocks changed. We have had all sorts of feelings and emotions over the past three months. Fortunately, and unusually, we have had many sunny days during that time. It may be indicative of more serious climate-change issues that will need to be addressed, but the immediate effect has been to help people cope with lockdown by (for many) being able to work and sit in the garden. Can God send sunshine to help us? Scientists and theologians may dispute the idea, but for many of us saying thanks to the Almighty seems appropriate

Lord, thank you that, amid all the pain and trauma of the last few months, there has been sunshine and warmth to lift our spirits and enable us to go outside and enjoy parks or gardens. Help us to appreciate what we have, not what we have not

PS Next week we’ll have  awe wander at the Tail of the Bank

June 19

Question: Can you say what the new regulations are about meeting, and when they take effect? It was much easier when the answer was ‘Don’t do almost everything, don’t go almost anywhere’. It is more complicated now, because restrictions have to be eased without the risk of increasing spread of the virus. Let’s hope and pray that people take time to try to read and understand what the Phase 2 requirements are, and don’t start making them up for themselves

Lord, we wish all of this ‘virus stuff’ were over, and life could be as it was. But we are not through with it yet, so we still need measures to keep us and everyone else safe. Help us to cope with the frustration. Help us all to adhere to the guidelines for our own good, and the safety of everyone else