AGM
The Church AGM was held after the morning service on Sunday 1st. December. Reports were received from the Secretary, Treasury and Lay Rep, and elections were held for members of the Vestry.
The following were elected or re-elected to the Vestry:
Gill Austen, Bridget Gordon, Christine Hart, Sue Munro, Frank Spencer-Nairn, George Stone, Pat Westall, Marjorie Wilson.
Bridget Gordon was elected Lay Rep, with Pat Westall as Alt Lay Rep.
At a short Vestry meeting after the GM, Gill Austen was elected secretary and Sue Munro Treasurer. George Stone will act as Chair until a resident priest is appointed, who will take this role.
CHURCH RESTORATION
The final stage of the church restoration has been achieved with the painting this month of the interior of the church – it was necessary to wait till the plaster had completely dried out before this could be done.
You can see the newly painted walls in the pictures below by Gill Austen of the flower arrangements for a recent wedding; they show also what a lovely venue our church is for a wedding.
The church ready for a wedding
wedding flower arrangement
GOODBYE TO MARTIN AND CAROL!
We are very sad that our priest, Rev Martin Roff, and his wife Carol, have left us to enjoy retirement near family in England. We are very grateful to Martin for his ministry, and he and Carol will be greatly missed. Martin’s last service was our Harvest Festival on Sunday 29th. September. It was followed by a lunch at Kilmartin Hall, at which a presentation was made to Martin and Carol. We wish them all the best in their new home.
speech by Frank Spencer-Nairn
presentation by Gill Austen
Rev Martin and Mrs Carol Roff
Photos by Phil Poston.
RASPBERRY TEA
Our annual Raspberry Tea was held on Saturday 14th. September in Balnain Hall.
Raspberry and cream scones ready for distribution!
Thanks to all who helped to make it a great success by donating items to sell, making the teas, manning the stalls, and of course, thanks to all the people who came along to enjoy the event.
LUNCH FOR JANET
On Sunday 28th. July we had a barbecue lunch after the morning service, to celebrate Janet Adams’ work in the church, as a Eucharistic Minister, Vestry member and Vestry Secretary on the occasion of her retirement from these positions. We are very grateful to Janet for all she has done for St. Ninian’s over the years and wanted to show our appreciation. Despite a little rain we had a very enjoyable barbecue – thanks to all who helped to make the occasion a success.
OUTREACH UPDATE
George Stone reports:
I am pleased to report that the Life Explored Course on Sunday evenings in January/March was considered a success, and worth repeating. With the Free Church and the Church of Scotland we are planning a repeat in September/October, and again in January/March 2020.
The “Visitations” of new houses was undertaken in November/December by a team led by the Revd Adrian Varwell. They intend to visit the next tranche of new houses in the next few weeks. They have agreed to extend the programme to include ALL houses with new occupants in Drumnadrochit and Lewiston. For this, Adrian may be requesting help in identifying where owners have changed’ and possibly a larger team too.
TABLE-TOP SALE
We took a table at the Table-Top Sale in Cannich Village Hall on Sunday afternoon, 17th. March. Many thanks to all who donated books, DVDs, marmalade etc. and to the Church members who organized and manned our table. After paying £10 for our table, we still made over £40, which will be a welcome addition to the Church’s income.
ST. NINIAN’S LUNCHES
The first of our monthly lunches took place on Thursday 28th. February; it was well attended and proved very enjoyable. We plan these lunches to be a social occasion for church members and others in the local community to come together and enjoy a nice lunch and a chat and get to know people. We are meeting in the Ness Deli, The Village Green, Drumnadrochit IV63 6TX, which has an excellent and varied menu including vegetarian and gluten-free options, all very reasonably priced. We will normally meet on the last Thursday of the month; our next lunch will be on Thursday 30th. May.
OUTREACH
Our programme of outreach is proving quite successful. A team consisting of members from St. Ninian’s, the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland has been visiting residents of the new housing development in Drumnadrochit, welcoming them and giving them information about the area, including the churches. Many residents have expressed their appreciation for the visits, and the scheme has made people aware of the local churches and has hopefully made them feel that they are welcome.
A new course, Exploring Life, has also started in Drumnadrochit, again with involvement from all three churches, to introduce people to Christianity and help them to find answers to their questions.
COURSES AT THE CATHEDRAL
The following courses are being offered at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Inverness, and are open to members of all churches in the diocese to take part. If anyone is interested in going to ether of them, please notify a Vestry member, so that we may be able to share transport.
BIBLE STUDY COURSE:
LENT COURSE:
CHURCH AGM
Our AGM was held after the morning service on Sunday 25th. November. Reports by Rev. Martin Roff and by the offfice-bearers were accepted, as were the accounts. The following members of the congregation were elected or re-elected to the Vestry:
Janet Adams, Marjorie Wilson (joint secretaries); Sue Munro (treasurer); Gill Austen; Bridget Gordon; Frank Spencer-Nairn; Pat Westall.
A full copy of the minutes of the meeting is available to read on the community room notice board..
QUIZ NIGHT
Our Quiz Night in Balnain Hall on Friday 28th. September, organized by Christine Hart, was enjoyed by all who attended it, and it raised some money for our funds too.
RASPBERRY TEA
Our annual Raspberry Tea was held on Saturday 22nd. September in Balnain Hall. It was a great success, with more than 60 people enjoying scones with cream, raspberry jam and fresh raspberries, and picking up bargains from the stalls, and we raised a good sum of money for Church funds.
Raspberry and cream scones ready for distribution!
Browsing the book stall
enjoying tea
STRATHGLASS GALA DAY
The church had a stall at the Strathglass Gala Day in Sunday afternoon 12th. August in Cannich Village Hall. We saw this as an opportunity for outreach to the community in the northern half of our parish. 
Our stall showed a display of photographs and information about the church and we gave out leaflets about St. Ninian’s and about the Scottish Episcopal Church in general. We also sold photo quiz sheets, where photos of local places were to be identified, with a prize for the winning entry, we sold some marmalade, and we had colouring sheets of Bible story pictures for children. Quite a number of people were attracted to our stall, and we felt that we had succeeded in making our presence known to the community.
VISIT TO ROWAN GLEN
On Sunday 29th. July the congregation and their extended families were invited by our priest, Revd. Martin Roff, and his wife Carol, to their property, Rowan Glen, on the Black Isle. After weeks of hot, dry weather we had a rather rainy afternoon, but after a picnic lunch, the varied attractions of the grounds were enjoyed by young and old alike:
enjoying lunch
A pond in the beautiful grounds
The miniature railway was a great attraction:
Revd. Martin, the engine-driver!
waiting for the train
Reaching the centre of the maze
Sheltering from the rain
Other attractions included a tree-house, a croquet lawn and a family of ducklings!
We all enjoyed our afternoon and thank Martin and Carol very much for their kind hospitality.
FLOWER FESTIVAL
The church was beautifully decorated with flowers for our Flower Festival from 15th. to 21st. July. Each display represented a hymn:
As the deer pants for the water
Lord of the Dance
Daisies are our silver, buttercups our gold
Hills of the north, rejoice
Be still my soul
Give me joy in my heart
For the beauty of the earth
We thank you Lord of Heaven; Immortal, invisible
Bread of Heaven
All things bright and beautiful
Come down, o love divine
Make me a channel of Your peace
Thine be the glory
During the course of the week almost 100 people, some local and some visitors, came to see the displays, and most also enjoyed tea or coffee and a chat with our members in the coffee room, in which there was an exhibition of flower paintings by Bertha Spafford Vester, the grandmother of church member Frank Spencer-Nairn.
CHURCH GROUNDS
On Saturday 19th. May a working party of members of the congregation met to clear up the church grounds, clearing away dead branches and generally tidying up. Their work has left the grounds looking good – a peaceful and attractive place.
MISSION AND OUTREACH
With the church renovations almost completed, we are turning our attention to our real purpose, that of spreading the Gospel and working to help others in Christ’s name. Bishop Mark preached on our duty of Mission and Outreach when he took our Sunday service on 13th. May.
The following Sunday, 20th. May, we held a meeting for all the congregation immediately after the morning service, to discuss what we can do to turn our good intentions into deeds. We were very glad to welcome Revd. Lesley Craddock and her husband Ashley, who contributed very usefully to our discussions.
Several new ideas were put forward; we pray for guidance and strength in putting these into practice.
RICHARD CONSTANDUROS
It is with great sadness that we learned of the death on 18th. March of Richard Constanduros, a staunch member of our church, who was one of the people responsible for our successful bid for Heritage Lottery funding and who worked tirelessly on the church restoration project, despite his ill health. His funeral took place at the church on Thursday 29th. March, conducted by the Most Reverend Mark Strange, our Bishop.
