September 2025
When it’s gone, it’s gone. With apologies to Lidl for using one of their slogans, we start with three events that are in the past. Two of them were part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and unlike some of the other events, they both had good–sized audiences.
Carmel Page deserves a prize for stamina, with so many shows almost every day, plus going round schools to publicise her performance. And then two weeks later she is back, speaking at our Bible class (by Zoom this time) on the rich man and Lazarus.
The musical talents of Cecelia have been mentioned in all three of the last editions. Unlike the June concert, which was cancelled at the last minute because of the heavy rain (remember when we had real rain?) the Fringe concert went ahead as planned, and was almost a sell-out.
Phoebe is our stalwart church cleaner. But in real life she is an accomplished artist, and found a gallery where she could exhibit – and sell – some of her paintings. The gallery itself is interesting too.
Alcoholics Anonymous along with Al-Anon and Aid&Abet use our premises many times during the week for their meetings. It benefits both them and us. They have the use of the facilities (reported by them to be one of the best places in Edinburgh), and they tell us if anything is needing attention. You may recall that they told us the kitchen ceiling had water coming through it from upstairs. Or perhaps just supplying a new kettle when required.
But recently we have been extra grateful to one of the groups, namely the East End Group, who volunteered to redecorate the large room used for their meetings. And by decorate we don’t mean just give it a lick of paint. New proper size curtains, repairs to the plasterwork behind the shutters (which now shut smoothly – that’s a first for us), provision of seat covers to protect the chairs and a new light fitting, plus another clock.
The photos show the work in progress, and two pictures of the finished room. We look forward to using it ourselves!
We reported last time that Katrina’s sister Julia was gravely ill. Now we have to pass on the sad news that she died peacefully on 20 July. Having been brought through our Sunday School, Julia never forgot her origins. This was noted at her Memorial Service (she refused to have a funeral service), and tribute was paid to the qualities imbued into her, which she put into practice in many spheres of her life. She died in the prime of her life, with much still to offer, and she will be greatly missed by Robin her husband, her children, and of course by Katrina and Mairi. And by all of us who knew her.
On a brighter note, congratulations to Hezha and Shin who are now the proud owners of their own houses – and finding out how much work is involved. Not just a broken water stopcock, which means the water cannot be turned off to mend the constant slow filling of the toilet cistern. And a lot of other work. Good thing Reza is available!