‘Balerno 2005’

Project Group

Report to Kirk Session

Year 4 – End of the beginning

September 2004 – December 2005

Balerno 2005

Project Group Report

Contents

1. Foreword		Page 3
2. Introduction		Page 4
3. Committee Reports
3.1. Faith and Worship		Page 5
3.2. Leadership and Ministry		Page 8
3.3. Organisations and Groups		Page 11
3.4. Fellowship		Page 13
3.5. Mission and Outreach		Page 15
3.6. Buildings and Identity		Page 17
3.7. Project Group		Page 20
4. Committees’ Objectives for Session 2006 – Appendix 1		Page 22
5. Membership of Committees - Appendix 2		Page 23
6. The Organisations and Groups - Appendix 3		Page 25

Project Group

Report to December Kirk Session

1. Foreword

This document is the final Report on progress between August 2004 and the end of December 2005 towards the implementation of the ‘Balerno 2005’ Project.

‘Balerno 2005’ has represented a plan for the first few years of Jared Hay’s ministry at Balerno Parish Church. The Objectives it set for the Church were broad and medium term rather than short term. The end of 2005 is clearly an opportune time to take stock of where the Church has reached in meeting its Objectives and to reset its strategy for the next few years.

During the first half of 2006, the Project Group is thus proposing a review of where we have reached and how best to move forward during the next five years. This is reflected in the proposed ‘Objectives’ for the Project Group for 2006 as shown on page 22.

As I have already intimated, this seems an appropriate time for me to stand down as Convenor of the Project Group, it has been a privilege to work with so many colleagues whose enthusiasm, commitment and goodwill has helped achieve real progress in the Church’s mission in Balerno. I am delighted that William Wallace has agreed to take over my role from the start of January. William has been a member of the Project Group since its inception and is well qualified to lead the Project to its next stage of development.

On behalf of the Project Group;

John Howie

Convenor

December 2005

Project Group

2. Introduction

‘Balerno 2005’, effectively the five-year plan for our Church, was presented to Session in October of 2002.

Aims (or ‘policy’)

The following aims were agreed:

· make Balerno Parish Church a place that looks and is alive and ‘open for business’;

· do all we can to make participation in our worship and Christian outreach something that is relevant and appealing to all;

· encourage more of our present members to take an active share in the contribution we make to the life of our community, and in the development of our own church life; and

· continue, where appropriate in partnership with other churches, to contribute to Christian witness outside Balerno through focussed contributions within the valley of the Water of Leith, in the wider Edinburgh area, and abroad.

We agreed to adopt the following as our Mission Statement:

‘a place to believe, and a place to belong;

a place to grow, and a place to serve.’

Strategy

We agreed to develop six strands in furtherance of our aims;

· Faith and Worship (including Christian Education);

· Leadership and Ministry (including Children’s Ministry and Pastoral Care);

· Organisations and Groups;

· Fellowship;

· Mission and Outreach (including Evangelism):

· Buildings and Identity.

This fourth Report in the ‘Balerno 2005’ series, covers progress made by each Committee during the fourth year of the Project.

3. Committee Reports

3.1 - Faith and Worship

This report seeks to give a summary account of our work in recent times within the structure of our Objectives for 2004/2005. We also note that the pressures of work related to the building development means that certain objectives that particularly rely on input from the Ministry

Team have not been achieved. It is hoped that after the transition to the new facilities these objectives will be taken forward.

Objective 1. Develop the separate identities of the two morning services.

The identities of the two morning services have remained much as before, in part beyond our control through the fact that Objectives 5 and 6 have not been achieved.

· Choir and Band.

The Choir and Band are trying to schedule rehearsals together on Thursdays when both are due at the 11am service.

Objective 2. Promote the spiritual unity of the Church.

This mainly takes place at points other than Sunday mornings, but includes the coffee time between services.

· Christmas

Many local people came to our services, some not members of our congregation, some not members of any congregation. In general terms we viewed them as a success, meeting the needs of our own folks and reaching out to the community around us. The Community Advent Service and the Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance in particular are designed to reach out to all in the locality, the latter especially for those who have lost loved ones.

We wish to thank those who served refreshments after the Christmas Eve services a year ago. This new venture worked well and we hope to expand it next year. We believe that we need to rethink the format of the Christmas Day services. Not many children come to the 11am Service and so we question it as a ‘family’ service. It is obvious that the main family service takes place on Christmas Eve at 7pm and it is the busiest of our Christmas services.

Visits from Mission Agencies to Sunday Services

A number of people from mission agencies have visited us to share their perspective with the congregation. We hope to maintain this around once a quarter.

September: Jackie Ringan of SU about ES-Team.

February: Heather Shanks of Fresh Start.

March: Peter Neilson, Missions Development Facilitator, with Church of Scotland.

June: Kay Coull, Amazon Hope.

August: Jane Petty, Church of Scotland, Zambia.

September: Jane Dodman, Church of Scotland, Jamaica

Objective 3. Promote Christian Education in line with worship and Bible themes.

New Members’ Class

The main Christian Education event was a New Members’ Class that took place during January/February/March. There were six people in the group, all but one of whom professed faith during the year. It is hoped to get the group together at points in the future and add to its number for further learning in a friendly context. Special thanks should be given to George and Toll Mackie who invited the group, spouses and children for lunch following the service

in March at which some professions of faith were made.

Another class is planned for November / December.

Evening Service Events

In August and September 2004 there were two learning events on “Does the Future have a Church?” and “What do buildings say?” These were held on Sunday evenings, presented using PowerPoint and both had a modest attendance

· Kidz Club

The Kidz Club ran during Half-Term in February, and ran during the Easter Holidays

KC also ran during the summer 2005 except for the first two weeks of the school break and the children learned stories about children in the Bible.

Objective 4. Provide training for Church members involved in leading worship.

Training for Lay participation in Services

A two-week course took place on Prayers for Others for those interested in being involved in participating in this way. Ronnie Crichton continues to work with a small group of people who might lead these prayers on Sunday mornings. The training is on-going and we hope that several people will be involved before too long.

Presently there is a rota for the fortnightly involvement of this team and it is hoped to run the course again in the future to draw in more people who feel that this is something they could be involved in.

It is hoped that, with the appointment of Angus Adams, work will progress towards a Youth Church where young people, under supervision, share in worship together which they organise for themselves.

Objective 5. Integrate the Praise Band's new sound system into services

Objective 6. Introduce PowerPoint with the words of songs, at least occasionally

· Technology

We were hoping, with the Fabric Conveners and musicians, to deploy the Band sound system experimentally with a view to finding the best place for it in the refurbished building and to install a temporary screen for PowerPoint projection with the same purpose. This has not been achieved. However, our suggestions are being fed into the designs for the refurbished Church building. There have been a few occasions when PowerPoint presentations have been used, perhaps most effectively during the Information Evenings in the lead up to the Special General Meeting.

Objective 7. Develop the first service.

No specific developments have taken place with the first service. A range of hymns and songs from the three books have been used, with prominence being given to the Church Hymnary.

· CH4

The Kirk Session agreed to the purchase of the new hymnbook, (CH4), to replace the three books presently used. The hymnbook was dedicated on the last Sunday in November.

Comment

The past year has been, in the main, one of marking time, trying to retain what we have and planning for the other side of the construction period. As we look ahead there are transition issues for us and these become more difficult with the latest developments of the Building Project and the uncertainty over its longer term options. The Transition - Logistics group did a tremendous amount of work in organising space for groups. St Joseph’s (together with the Community Centre for the children) has kindly been offered to us and plans are in place for using it when required. The work that has been put on hold for now should bear fruit in due course.

We forwarded suggestions for ‘winding down’ events and ‘starting up’ events to the task group responsible for organising these. The ‘winding down’ events took place in June before we knew the move was on hold. The Time-Line and the end-of-term party were particular successes and those responsible for organising them have our thanks. The former was a real learning event for all who went to see it, giving visitors an insight to the history of the congregation from its inception.

3.2 - Leadership and Ministry

The Ministry and Leadership Team [M.A.L.T.] has convened regularly (every 2-3 months) to discuss and implement its objectives. This report highlights progress in each of these objectives.

Membership of Committee

· Sarah Ross, having come to the end of her placement with our church, left the committee in October 2004 and was replaced by Aileen Wilson.

· Anne Charman and Angus Adams joined the Committee in September 2005.

Objective 1. Develop and maintain the Church’s policy for pastoral care.

As a committee member, Kay Latimer, the Pastoral Care Coordinator, has kept MALT informed of developments in this area and in discussion, other members of the team have contributed their thoughts and ideas. The main developments in pastoral care have been as follows:-

The successful structuring of regular visits by the Ministers to the elderly and housebound.

The availability of “visit cards” in the church vestibule for use by members requesting a visit by a Minister to a fellow member or parishioner. It has been noted that few members have made use of this facility.

The development of lay members involvement in pastoral care and the liaison between their contacts and those of the Ministers.

Promoting discussion of the whole subject of pastoral care of church members and parishioners with regard to the changing role of Elders and others in delivery of this care.

A pilot study, involving several districts and three Elders, is now happening. Feedback from this study and other sources of information will be reported to the Kirk Session.

Objective 2. Integrate the role of the Associate Minister.

Charles Barrington, as a committee member, updates us on progress in his role as Associate Minister mainly relating to pastoral matters. By regularly attending our meetings, he keeps in touch with other developments in pastoral care, children’s ministry etc. This has become more important since the reduction in Charles’ hours from August 2004.

Objective 3. Develop the Ministry to the children and youth of Balerno.

Appointment of Children’s and Youth Minister Leader

Members of MALT had many discussions on the future of children’s and youth ministry in Balerno Parish Church and took advice from, amongst others, Margaret Grant, Presbytery Adviser, and Graham Allison, Youth Leader at Currie Kirk, both of whom attended one of our meetings.

As a result of these discussions, our committee decided to seek to appoint a Children’s and Youth Ministry Leader to develop and coordinate work in this area.

Kirk Session agreed to this proposal, in principle at its meeting in June 2004 and in more detail in September 2004.

A sub group [DRAM] was formed from some members of MALT and 3 co-opted members. The remit of this group was to consider the practical arrangements of such a post, including a job description, terms and conditions of service and content and placing of a job advert. The group would also liaise with Kirk Session, the Congregational Board, Edinburgh Presbytery and MALT.

The Congregational Board, in September 2004, agreed to fund the post but noted that special arrangements would need to be made to find the money.

Edinburgh Presbytery granted its approval in November 2004.

Applications were invited by 20 December 2004 resulting in 5 applications and several other expressions of interest.

Jared Hay and 4 members of MALT and DRAM carefully considered these 5 applications but decided, for varying reasons, not to proceed further with any of them.

Three further applications were received in March 2005 and one of these applicants, Angus Adams, was appointed to the post, following a successful interview with the Minister and members of this committee.

Role of Children’s and Youth Minister on MALT

Angus Adams started in post on 1 May 2005 and joined this committee in September 2005.

Angus reports at meetings on progress and developments relating to his ministry to children and young folk within the Church and in the schools, homes and streets of Balerno. He outlines any areas in which he feels he has made less progress and notes any obstacles encountered

The committee makes comments and suggestions to Angus relating to the ideas and actions that he proposes

Members of the committee represent views of church members to Angus with regard to his work with children and youth

MALT will continue to encourage and support Angus in his work and, when appropriate, seek wider support and help from the Kirk Session and /or Congregational Board.

Other matters

There have been regular updates and discussion of ongoing Children’s Ministry activities, including Sunday Special, Way-2-Go, Children’s Forum and Summer Holiday Club.

The committee discussed issues arising from the survey on “Children’s participation in the Church” carried out by Alaina Greenman in the summer of 2004.

Objective 4. Develop the role of Church Secretary.

In consultation with the Minister and our committee, Carol MacLeod has developed her role and has been pro-active in several areas including the promotion of electronic distribution of Minutes of Kirk Session and Board meetings, and other appropriate documents.

Objective 5. Encourage members to be more actively involved in the life of the Church.

This objective, although implicit in much of the committee’s work, has not been fully explored. At our most recent meeting, 14^th November 2005, it was agreed that this objective should be a priority for 2006.

Objective 6. Develop and oversee the Church strategy on publicity

Carol MacLeod has been responsible for co-ordinating publicity for all groups and organisations in the church.

· Carol has been responsible for updating the notice boards both inside and outside the Church buildings.

· Carol reports progress and problems in the area of publicity at meetings of our Committee.

· It had been agreed that all matters relating to publicity would be coordinated by the Church

Secretary. Carol commented on some problems relating to conflicting information

appearing in the Bridge, the website and the Currie and Balerno News. Some of these issues

have now been resolved

Mairi Scanlan, the website coordinator, attended our last meeting and outlined recent developments. Discussion was held on how the activities of MALT could be advertised on the church website. There were comments on how the website integrated with other means of publicity (The Bridge, Orders of Service etc)

3.3 - Organisations & Groups

Progress since our last report is summarised under the headings of our Objectives for 2004/2005. The committee has met 6 times in the past 12 months.

Objective 1. Existing Organisations & Groups

Maintain points of contact, liaise with and provide support to all groups
Arrange annual support visits
Co-ordination of annual syllabi (where appropriate)
Use available information to contribute to the Church’s publicity strategy

Following the guidelines established two years ago, we continue to provide support for all Church organisations and groups. Each committee member is the prime contact for 3 – 4 organisations and during the past year members made contact and worked with them. A summary checklist of contacts is maintained, together with more detailed information sheets for each organisation.

In addition, some organisations wish to be formally visited by Elders and this is co-ordinated through our committee.

All information gathered is made available to the Church Secretary and where appropriate, put on to the Church website for publicity purposes.

For the current session the process is about to begin again and Elder visits will be carried out by end February 2006.

Under the heading of communication / publicity we have held several meetings with the Church secretary to assist her in progressing the Church diary and co-ordination of church notices.

Objective 2. Promote & co-ordinate development of House Groups and Special Interest

Groups.

· Peace & Prayer

After a quiet period during the summer P&P is being used regularly for private meditation and prayer. The Church is open every Wednesday evening from 7 – 8 pm. Numbers attending vary from as low as two up to 10 or more. It has been particularly well attended recently, possibly reflecting the amount of prayer taking place regarding the buildings development!

· Special Interest Groups – Book Group

Given that a member of the congregation had expressed a willingness to set up and run a book group, two adverts were placed in The Bridge. These, unfortunately, failed to attract sufficient interest and this has been shelved for the time being.

· New House Groups

The Monday HG is still going strong.

Numbers attending the Tuesday group had fallen to 5, which meant that with two members away at any time they struggle to have a quorum. However, everybody feels that they get a lot from the group through fellowship and support and are extremely keen to ensure that it continues. A very successful BBQ was held in August, to which a number of younger families were invited and they are actively looking for potential new members. The group is still running, but on a more flexible basis to suit members’ needs.

· Café / Drop-in Centre

In the Spring of 2005 a study group was set up to investigate the feasibility of setting up and running a cafe / drop-in facility that would operate when the new buildings were completed. Visits were made to both Colinton “Swing” and North Berwick Blackadder and an interim report has been prepared for submission to Kirk Session at an appropriate time.

3.4 - Fellowship

The Fellowship Committee has met regularly during session 2004/2005.

Objective 1. Prepare and administer an annual programme of social events.

The events, which we have organised or been involved in during the past year, have been -

May - Balerno Children's Gala, teas and home baking (£220 donated to children’s charities

in 2004)

June - Wine and Nibbles Party on Church lawn to celebrate Jared's graduation.

August - Photo Competition open to community.

November - Sarah and Stewart’s Farewell Ceilidh Dance in Currie Rugby Club.

December - Christmas Fair held at Balerno Community High School (£1,200 donated to charity

with a further significant sum raised by other charitable bodies at the Fair).

February - Alastair McDonald Concert in the Church (attended by 220 people from the

community with proceeds of ca £400 to Committee funds).

May - Balerno Children's Gala, teas and home baking (£370 donated to children’s charities

in 2005.).

June - Barbeque after the Promotion Service.

July - Bowling at Balgreen.

August - Walk in the Pentlands.

- Golf outing to Biggar.

November - Ceilidh Dance (69 attendees).

- Christmas Fair was held in Balerno High School on Saturday 26^th November and

was a great outreach event. Although raising money was not the prime motive for

the event some £1,136 will be donated to charities. This amount did not include

money raised by other charities at the Fair.

Events currently being planned include:

Concert by the Edinburgh Telephone Choir…….(17^th January)

Burns Supper ……………………………………(25^th January)

Bowls / Curling …………………………………(February)

Valley inter-Church Golf Match

…. And more (watch this space)

Objective 2. Administer the 'Dinner Discussion' meetings.

The programme for the Dinner Discussions for the session was -

22^nd September 2004 - Rev Janet Dyer (Dalmahoy Chapel), “Hospital Chaplaincy

– how it came about for me”……………………. (36 present)

27^th October 2004 - Dr Keith Russell “Asylum seekers: are you converted yet?”

…………………………………………………. (36 present)

24^th November 2004 - Sheriff Albert Sheehan, “Visit to the Holyland” (32 present)

26^th January 2005 - Patrick Webb (Harmeny Education Trust), “Harmeny and the

Community” …………………………………… (35 present)

23^rd February 2005 - Gareth Edwards (George Watson’s College) “School Leadership

balancing personal faith with an appreciation of the increasingly

secular nature of the school community”……… (26 present)

23^rd March 2005 - Shirley Brown (Christian Aid), “I believe in life before death (26 present)

An average of over 32 people attended each Dinner, and this included members of other denominations.

The first two Dinner Discussion Meetings of the 2005-6 Winter Session were:-

Wednesday 26^th October - Rev Alastair Symington, Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland

………………………………………………………………………………. (32 present)

Wednesday 23^rd November – Rev Roderick Campbell, talking about his experiences in

Sudan…………………………………… (27 present)

The next events are:- Tuesday 17^th January - a concert by the Edinburgh Telephone Choir

Wednesday 25^th January - Burns Supper – This event features a full

evenings entertainment from home grown ‘stars’ and is restricted to

60 attendees.

Further dinners are planned in February and March.

Objective 3. Promote Fellowship among the Valley Churches.

Several events have been publicised widely and attracted attendance from members of other local Churches and the community.

Finance

During the first 2 years of the Fellowship Committee a cumulative amount of around £3,600 has been directly donated to charities (with significantly more raised by other groups at the Christmas Fairs) and the committee has built up a fund of £500 (including some inherited from the old Social Committee) to support future events.

3.5 - Mission and Outreach

Our progress since last reporting can be best examined under the headings of our objectives for 2004/2005, which were discussed and reviewed for the project group report to Kirk Session in June.

Objective 1. Promote outreach within the Parish.

· Helping hands

Ongoing offer of lifts and household help to all in the Balerno area experiencing short term difficulties. We continue to support the organisers and discuss possible ways to improve the service.

· Gala Stall

A Balerno Parish Church promotional stall was organised at last year’s Gala Day, with face painting as an attraction. Tea and coffee was organised by the fellowship committee as usual. This meant that we had a highly visible presence and our groups and organisations were publicised. We hope to do the same this year.

· Welcomers

The old system of approaching newcomers to Balerno by ‘welcomers’ who look out for anyone moving in to their own street has been revived. A new welcome leaflet has been made which will be used to give information about the church. We are still short of volunteers for some streets, so the system will continue to be reviewed.

Objective 2. Promote outreach within Lothian area.

· Fresh Start

There have been three successful collections of household goods over the period, using the old hall as a collection point. We intend to continue each year with a collection in March/ April and September.

Objective 3. Promote outreach out with the Lothian area.

· Harvest coffee morning: -

Held between the services on Harvest Sunday in 2004 this event served several functions.

Allowing the participants of both services to socialise

Raising awareness and funds for Jane Petty and her project in Zambia. £394 was raised from donations and home baking

Giving a focus on a part of the world with a less abundant harvest

We hope therefore to make this a regular event but due to the uncertainty over buildings did not take place in 2005.

We continue to encourage regular prayers for our missionary partners, Jane Petty and Roy and Jane Dodman. We have ensured that they are kept in touch with the life of our church through correspondence and regular copies of ‘The Bridge’ and plan to keep the congregation in touch with their work. The question of their future support is also being addressed and a proposal has recently been put to the Kirk Session.

Fair trade

We are encouraging fair trade in line with ‘World Mission’ by means of a coffee/tea tasting session during Fair Trade fortnight in March. The Balerno Fair Trade Group also had a Coffee/Information Morning during that period which was well supported by the Church. A similar event is planned for 2006.

· Christian Aid

The door to door collection and a sponsored walk took place in May.

Objective 4. Facilitate ongoing development of outreach within the framework of the church

calendar.

· Coffee shop & Gift distributions

Harvest- Christmas -Ark toiletries.

We are aware of the important contribution that these events make towards mission and seek to support the organisers as required.

· Christmas cards

These were chosen, ordered, printed and distributed early in order to publicise all our December services.

Objective 5. Facilitate the evangelical activities of the ‘Balerno 2005’ Committees and initiate

other activities as appropriate.

· Guest service

We are encouraging the planning of services designed for people who don’t normally attend Church, invitations to be given to members of the congregation for any friends or relatives in this category. The feeling is that this may be one of several services with which we could celebrate the opening of the building development.

Objective 6. Encourage reflection on and develop strategy for ‘emerging/next generation

church’

· This was taken forward by having Peter Neilson as a speaker at the session retreat in March, and as preacher at both services the following day. The intention is to use the KS Retreat in March 2006 to take this forward and part of the Minister’s Study Leave in summer of 2006 will also be this theme, under the supervision of Peter Neilson.

· We have created an annual cycle of events like the above spread throughout the Church calendar that will continue to be reviewed and adapted as appropriate.

The Mission and Outreach committee continues to meet approximately every two months and will arrange future meetings appropriate to the need.

Sadly, we also have to report the death of one of our members, Dave Duff.

3.6 - Buildings & Identity

Three objectives were set for the session 2004 /2005:

Objective 1. Establish the alternative ways in which the identified accommodation

requirements can be provided in an efficient manner and within available

resources.

Objective 2. Design an environment in which the church seems ‘alive and open for business’.

Objective 3. Design and undertake a communication process aimed at achieving

congregational agreement to the proposals and the financial support to enable

them to be implemented.

Special Congregational Meeting

A special meeting of the congregation held on 31 October 2004 voted to proceed with the planned project at an estimated all-inclusive cost of £490,000, subject to the necessary finance being raised.

Finance

The response of the congregation was a very generous one, to the extent that at present a total of £360,449 has been either paid or promised. These payments/promises have come from 324 members in 219 households.

Additionally, grants totalling £27,100 have been received.

These sums together with £125,000 from the Fabric Fund give a current total sum available for the project of £512,549.

Confirmation was received from the General Trustees that they would grant a loan of £275,000 repayable over seven years.

Project Costs

In January 2005, the Quantity Surveyor’s estimated revised project costing was £496,213. This, however, did not include “church costs” such as professional fees, furniture & fittings, a/v equipment, VAT and loan interest.

Design

During the first few months of the calendar year design matters progressed, with close liaison taking place between ourselves, our architects, local authority planners and the Church’s artistic matters committee. Approval of Presbytery was received as was planning permission from Edinburgh City Council. The latter was subject to five conditions, but ultimately only one of any significance viz. that the external steps and retaining wall should be finished in sandstone to match existing steps and flanking wall. It was confirmed that listed building consent was not required.

Various other matters were resolved during this timeframe. It was confirmed that neither Scottish Water nor Edinburgh Council had any objections to the proposal to build over the culvert. A type 2 asbestos survey reported no indications of asbestos in any of the buildings. Negotiations with a contractor regarding the demolition of the Old Hall resulted in an agreed price of £8,000 + VAT.

Disabled access at the side of the Church Hall was dropped from the plans given that a facility would be provided at the front of the Church. However, following a report of the ground investigations, it appeared likely that the conditions identified would require a greater than expected depth of the foundations., which would have cost implications.

In May 2005, based upon detailed specification drawings from the Architect, the Quantity Surveyor’s estimated costings were £617,000, which again were subject to the exclusions previously mentioned.

The additional costs were attributable to various items, mainly related to Planning requirements.

Tenders

Tenders were issued in early June 2005 to six contractors, of which four responded. Of these, the lowest tender price was £846,967 from R-Mac Building Services Ltd. These were construction costs only, and when “church costs” were included, the total overall cost rose to over £1,000,000.

A cost savings exercise undertaken by the Quantity Surveyor brought down this total cost to approximately £850,000. Despite this, there was unanimous agreement within the Buildings Committee that this was an unacceptable figure, and a reduced project would be necessary.

Options

Two options were considered, and whilst there was agreement that the refurbishment and reordering of the sanctuary should be confirmed, opinion within the committee was divided on other alternative aspects of the construction.

First, was the option to concentrate on building the Link Building and to remove the new rear hall and meeting room from the plans which, together with the savings identified by the Quantity Surveyor, would in his view reduce the overall project cost to £686,000 (inclusive of “church costs”.). This was favoured by the Project Co-ordinator and a number of the committee. They saw this as best able to achieve the vision which we had set ourselves, short of implementing the full project. The shortfall in funds would not be realised by the time that the tender was due to be taken up, but we should go forward in faith believing that the necessary finance would be realised, as we had not yet been required to put any great effort into serious fundraising.

The second option was to remove the front link from the plans, and to create a rear link which would incorporate a new rear hall with meeting room , kitchen and toilets, to be achieved within our overall budgeted figure of £490,000. Those who favoured this option did so on the basis of affordability. Those promoting this view felt we should not commit ourselves to funding which we did not have, and the congregation would expect us to identify a reduced scheme which fell within our available resources. It was also believed that our aims and objectives for the future could be achieved with this option.

The cost of the second option was subsequently estimated in broad terms by the Quantity Surveyor , resulting in a probable overall figure of £644,750 (including “church costs”). This estimate, however, has not been subject to the same degree of detailed specification as the first option.

Motions

Following presentations at Kirk Session, when both options were extensively discussed, it was agreed that the following motions should be put to the Special Congregational Meeting held on 20 November 2005:

1. The congregation reaffirms its decision of 31 October 2004 to undertake the whole building project as then agreed, and authorises renewed fund-raising.

2. The congregation rescinds its decision of 31 October 2004, resolves to undertake Phase 1 of the original project (ie the reordering of the sanctuary and the creation of the link with the Church Hall) and the repair of the Old Hall, and authorises renewed fund-raising.

3. The congregation rescinds its decision of 31 October 2004 and resolves to proceed with immediate effect: (a) with the reordering of the sanctuary as originally agreed (except with the creation of the new door in the side wall of the Church); and (b) the congregation instructs the Office-Bearers and the Buildings and Identity Committee to give further thought to future development (bearing in mind, but not limited to, previous plans), to report to a future congregational meeting, and authorises continued fund-raising.

These were contained within an information paper which was circulated by Kirk Session to all members of the congregation prior to the Special Congregational Meeting. Also included was a recommendation from Kirk Session that we adopt the third of these motions.

Another paper, on behalf of the Project Co-ordinator, was also circulated recommending that we should proceed with Phase 1.

At the Meeting a counter motion was presented by Iain Muir as follows:

4. The congregation rescinds its decision of 31 October 2004 and resolves: (a) to proceed with immediate effect, or as soon as practical, with the demolition and rebuilding of the Old Hall to be contained within the original budgeted cost of the Project of £500,000; and (b) the congregation instructs the Office-Bearers and the Buildings & Identity Committee to give further thought to future development (bearing in mind, but not limited to, previous plans), to report to a future congregational meeting, and authorises continued fund-raising.

Support for each of the motions was as follows:

Motion Vote

1 0

2 5

3 127