Langholm Old Church Parish Magazine

No.133                       Price 1/8p - with LIFE AND WORK - 8d LOCAL MAGAZINE ONLY                        September 1972.

Minister: Rev. Tom Calvert, The Old Manse, Langholm. Tel. 256.

Session Clerk: Mr. Archibald Findlay, Langholm Lodge. Tel. 453.

Clerk to Board: Mr. E. C. Armstrong, Town Hall, Langholm. Tel. 255.

Treasurer: Mr. Robert C. Craig, 5 Rosevale Place, Langholm

Organist: Mr. A. C. Mallinson, A.R.C.O., L.R.A.M., 72 Henry Street.

Church Officer: Mr. W. Elliot, 3 Buccleuch Terrace.

Hall Caretaker: Mr. John Scott, 54 William Street.

Text for September: "As thy days, so shall thy strength be". Deuteronomy 33, 25.

In these words of our text for September we have God's promise of strength for each day as it comes.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, an American preacher and writer, in his book "The Art of Real Happiness" has a chapter entitled "How to grow oid happily". In that chapter he tells this story about an old lady. Her hair was white, her cheeks though pink were crisscrossed with a network of deep lines, A little girl who had come to tea with her, after looking at her and pondering over it all, asks, And are you a very old lady? No honey, she replied, but I must say I have been young for a mighty long time. And Dr. Peale points out that this old lady had lived on the principle of our text, "as thy days so shall thy strength be" - had as her motto to live each day as it comes - a day at a time. She had discovered that worry and nervous tension comes from importing into today burdens of yesterday and the tasks of tomorrow, and that the amount of strength we are given is just enough for each day as it comes.

Away back in April, 1913, a world renowned physician was addressing medical students of Yale University in America. His name was Sir William Osler who came from Canada. He lived and worked for a time in America, and later was appointed Regius Professor of Medicine in Oxford by the reigning Monarch, who later out of gratitude knighted him, so that he became Sir William. During the First World War he went to help St. Luke and other saints in heaven. Sir William was a great man, not simply because he was the author of a most important book on medicine but because he possessed so many other rare qualities. He was a specialist in medicine, but he was not one who - as has often been said of specialists - know more and more about less and less - he had a wide grasp of many subjects and public interests. He was a lover of English Literature, widely read in philosophy, but was also an intensely human man, a lover of fun and happy living, interested in people, fond of playing with little children and writing letters to them. In his address to the students of medicine in Yale on 20th April, 1913, he gave them a prescription for happy good living, and this is what he said:

"Live in day-tight compartments. Throw away all ambition beyond that of doing the day's work well. Travellers on the road to success live in the present, heedless of taking thought for the morrow. Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day absorb your energies and satisfy your widest ambition."

This of course is excellent advice, and it is the rule of living as commended in our text, that we are promised strength enough for today - so don't squander it over yesterday or tomorrow's needs and then find you have not enough to get through today.

Now to follow this advice we need to find some way burying a good deal of the past.

There are some things the Bible asks us to remember of the past. "Remember the days of old." "Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth". And we recall our Lord's dying wish that we should take the bread and wine of the Sacrament in remembrance of Him. And yet, as the philosopher Bergson has told us, it is the function of the brain to enable us not only to remember but to forget. But the trouble is that we forget what ought to be remembered and go on remembering what ought to be forgotten. Some of us need to conduct a little funeral ceremony not a mournful but joyous funeral - the funeral of our own past life. In one grave we should bury our past sins which in penitence we have brought before God and had them forgiven. In another grave we should bury our past failures and blunders, for it does no good to go on recalling them, and to do so inflicts upon ourselves needless punishment. In another grave we should bury deep down never to be seen again our past annoyances, the insults and injuries from other people which our minds tend to magnify out of all proportion.

St. Paul knew all about the urgency of burying the past forever. He had a very unhappy past to remember, as he had been one of them who took part in the martyrdom of St. Stephen, he had been a persecutor of the Christians and had dragged many to torture and death. Now after his conversion on the Road to Damascus, if he had gone on remembering the past he would have never have been of any use for the present and future. So knowing that his dark past had been forgiven, he says in his letter to the Philippians - "Forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press on".

Sir William says that we should not only forget the past but that travellers on the road to success should be heedless of taking thought of the morrow.

This is something Jesus was always trying to impress upon the minds of men and women. "Do not be anxious about tomorrow" he says, "Tomorrow will look after itself. Each day has troubles enough of its own".

Of course this does not mean that we are not to make provision for tomorrow or plan for the future. To do so would be to rob life of all incentive and impetus. The great spiritual pioneers of the past forty centuries have lived and laboured for a goal that still seems far distant, "a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God". In our daily work many are engaged in long-range tasks, and only as we look into the future and see their completion does our present labour have meaning and inspiration.

What Jesus is thinking of when He says "Do not be anxious about tomorrow" is the tendency to fret over tomorrow in such a way that it prevents us to live the present worthily. So many of us spend our days wishing them to pass quickly for some happy day which for many never comes. A well-known psychologist asked three thousand people the question - What are you living for? and it shocked him to discover that 90 per cent were simply putting up with the present while they waited for a future day - waite for something to happen - for some success or promotion or a bequest - waited for tomorrow while today was slipping by unnoticed. He said they got things all wrong - they were looking forward for some beautiful scene in the future while the lovely flower garden at their feet was unappreciated and unnoticed. Madam Marie Curie once wrote to her family at the New Year, "My dear children, I send you best wishes for a Happy New Year, that is to say, good health, good humour and good work; a year in which you have pleasure in living every day, without waiting for the days to be gone before finding charm in them, and without putting all your hopes of pleasure in the days to come. The older one gets the more one feels that the present must be enjoyed."

The best reason for avoiding living too much in the future and neglecting the present is that the future has not yet been given to us and we cannot be sure it ever will. As St. James says in his Epistle, "'Come now ye that say, tomorrow we will go to such and such a town, spend time there and trade, whereas ye do not know where you will be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is like a vapor that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away". Life is short for every one of us whether it be twenty, forty or ninety years, so why waste the present days longing for days to come, which for many will never come at all.

Live one day at a time is what Jesus counsels, as Sir William Osler counselled when speaking to a group of medical students at Yale, and don't waste a single day in fretting or in resentful mood.

Make the most of each day, don't waste a moment of it. The Communists claim superiority over people of the Western World in their reverence for time. They say, "Westerners have time to kill, the revolutionists have no time to lose". The Communists say the bourgeoisie doodles, plays and dreams". That may be an exaggeration and yet in the West we have certain familiar phrases about "killing time", "putting in time" which indicates that multitudes fail to take the hours of each day seriously.

I have read somewhere an old legend of an angel who came one evening to a river brink and asked the boatman to ferry him across. When they reached the further shore the angel rewarded the boatman with what appeared to be a handful of shavings and, in disgust the boatman threw them into the river. The next morning he found one or two of those shavings left in the bottom of his boat, and on examining them closely he saw that they were not shavings but gold parings. Gold - and he'd thrown them away.

And so I ask you to remember that the ordinary days of our swiftly passing lives are not worthless shavings to be thrown away in disgust at receiving nothing better. If we look at them closely it will become clear that they are gold - with golden delight hidden in them and golden opportunities of service to God and man. May God deliver us from the blindness born of our ingratitude and teach us in the coming days to see in each one as it comes golden opportunities for joyous living before it slips away beyond our grasp forever.

LETTER FROM THE MINISTER

Dear Fellow-Member,

Holidays over once again and we begin to plan the various activities of our Church for the new session. With my wife and family I enjoyed a wonderful week's holiday in Holland, staying for a week with friends near The Hague, and visiting places of historic interest every day. It is a country booming with industry, and with the good management-employee relations, strikes have been very few since World War Il. We visited Flevohof, an area of 350 acres regained from the sea, in which there are two large experimental farms. We visited Arnsterdam, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, intersected with canals and split into 90 islands connected with 300 bridges, and standing on a foundation of thousands of piles which have been driven into the mud surface to bear the city up. Here we visited the Reformed Church of Amsterdam being joint Church of Scotland/Dutch Reformed with an international and inter-racial congregation. The Rev. Colin R.M. Bell, of the West High Church, Kilmarnock, has just been appointed minister there.

Among other visits of special interest was a visit to the Palace of Peace in The Hague. This is a Palace in which no king or queen or president every lived, and was built as a centre in which representatives of the nations of the world would meet to settle their differences instead of going to war. In 1899 the first International Peace Conference was held in The Hague and it was decided first of all, that there should be no more wars, and secondly that a building should be put up in The Hague where the nations could come together and talk over their problems instead of fighting about them. A competition was held, for which architects all over the world entered, to discover the best design, and soon after the new century had begun the foundation stone of the Palace of Peace was laid. Six years later it was finished. In this magnificent building, where the International Court of Justice now meets, there are some lovely things, nearly all given by one country or another, and including a miniature replica of the Christ of the Andes, looking down from the top of the main stair. The tragedy of this scene is that this great and beautiful Palace of Peace was finishing and opened in August, 1913, and on the following August, 1914, the first Great World War began. We also visited Arnhem where in September, 1944 the 1st Allied Airborne Army was dropped, and where our troops fought gallantly and suffered very heavy. We also visited the war graves in the Cemetery at Oosterbeek, where many of the grave stones were in memory of the King's Own Scottish Border Regiment. In a Short Factual Account of the Battle of Arnhem and Oosterbeek, Brigadier C.B. Mackenzie, the Principle General Staff Officer of the 1st Airborne Division says "As long as we have men who will do as the men of the 1st Airborne Division did in the Battle of Arnhem, we can look forward with complete confidence to the future."

Annual Common Riding

The 1972 Common Riding will long be remembered as a day of glorious sunshine and not least remembered by Cornet Scott Morrison, and his father Ex-Cornet Alex. Morrison, the year's Semi-jubilee Cornet.

Cornet Scott Morrison with his Right and Left Hand Men, Robin Nixon and Neil Davidson, maintained well the highest traditions of the Ride Out and various celebrations. The attendance at the Old Parish Church on the previous Sunday was a very large one, and in the afternoon I had the pleasure of conducting the Cornet with Right and Left Hand Men round St. Francis Home at Erkinholme when Sister Cronan introduced them to each .of the residents; to Greenbank Eventide Home when Matron Blackwell made the introductions; and to the Thomas Hope Hospital where the Matron, Miss Mann, introduced them to each of the patients and later entertained them to refreshments. I was very much impressed with the kindly interested manner of Cornet Scott Morrison, and ex-Cornets Robin Nixon and Neil Davidson in talking with the elderly in these visits.

The 1972 Common Riding was also a touching occasion when we heard our friend John Elliot crying the Fair for his last time, having held this office for the last 40 years.

The Evening Service of Common Riding Sunday was attended by a smart and dignified parade of the members of the Lodge Eskdale Kilwinning, No. 107. The brethren assembled at the Lodge in Mary Street, and preceded by the Langholm Town Band, marched in processional order via Henry Street and Caroline Street to the Old Parish Church, when I had the privilege of conducting the Service. Lessons were read by Bro. Hudson, R.W.M., and Bro. W. J. Bell, I.P.M.

Special Services and Events in August

Throughout the summer the 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service attendances have been well maintained. It is evident that this time of Service meets the needs of many of our people. On Sunday, 6th August the 11 a.m. Morning Service was attended by lads of the Liverpool Company of the Boys' Brigade, who enjoyed the privilege of living in our hall for their week of camp. Also Guides from Blantyre camping at Erkinholme attended this Service. Our 1st Langholm Company of the Boys' Brigade enjoyed a very happy week of camp in Ayrshire. On Sunday, 20th August the Morning Services were in my absence conducted by Mrs. C. N. R. Wallwork from Dalston, when her messages were much appreciated. The Evening Service was led by Mr. Tom Beattie and Lesson read by Mr. Douglas Anderson, when the Warwick Road Presbyterian Church, Carlisle, choir, under the leadership of their organist, Mr. Francis, led a service of praise. This service brought out a large attendance and the visit of the Carlisle choir was much enjoyed. Special thanks to the ladies of the Guild in providing refreshments for the visiting choir.

Sunday School

The Sunday School commences the new session on Sunday, 10th September, meeting with the 11 a.m. Morning Service and the children leaving for Classes in the hall after the first hymn.

Church Services and Classes for First Communicants

The 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Services will continue until Sunday, 1st October, and thereafter for the next six months Services will be 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

On Sunday, 17th September we will observe Thanksgiving for the Deliverance of the Battle of Britain at the 11 a.m. Morning Service.

The Harvest Thanksgiving Services will take place on Sunday, 8th October, the 11 a.m. Service being led by the Sunday School, and the 6 p.m. Service attended by the Eskdale Young Farmers' Club.

Classes for First Communicants will commence on Sunday, 24th September, meeting in the vestry at 7 p.m. I will be glad to welcome young people to these classes, and attendance does not carry an obligation to become Church members at this time.

Union of Presbytery of Hawick with Presbytery of Jedburgh and Kelso

A special Service to mark the Union of Border Presbyteries will be held in Jedburgh Old Parish Church on Sunday, 10th September at 6 p.m., when the preacher will be the Very Reverend Andrew Herron, B.D., LL.B. The Presbytery instructs that no Evening Services will take place within its bounds that evening, and that congregations be encouraged to attend this Service in Jedburgh. If members of our Langholm Old Parish Church desire to attend this Service, please let me have your names by Friday, 8th September, when transport arrangements will be made.

Sympathy with the Bereaved

On Monday, 17th July Mr. George Dunlop Wright, Goodhope, Kirkpatrick-Fleming, passed away suddenly at the age of 41. His widow, Maimie Elizabeth, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Mitchell, of Elizabeth Street, Langholm. We express our deepest sympathy with Mrs. Wright and her family of two sons and a daughter in their sad bereavement.

On Wednesday, 19th July, Col. Alan A. Phillips, C.I.E. V.D., of Kilncleuch, passed away in the Thomas Hope Hospital at the age of 82. After over 30 years service in India, Alan Phillips enjoyed 27 years happy retirement in our community, and while a member of Kirkandrews-on-Esk Church of England, he was a frequent worshipper in our Old Parish Church, where his second marriage to Peggie Crabtree took place. Our sympathy in bereavement with his widow Peggie, and his family, Mickey, Ben, June and Diana.

On Sunday, 23rd July, Mrs. Elizabeth Burgess passed away at the age of 76 at 34 Holmwood Drive. In earlier years of health and strength she was a regular worshipper and good supporter of the Old Parish Church, and was a woman of fine character. Our sympathy in their bereavement with her family of Thomas, Robert, Janet, Kate, Elizabeth and Ian.

On 5th August Mrs. Agnes Grieve passed away at 10 Grasmere Avenue, Reading, at the age of 89. She was a daughter of the late John Corrie, joiner, Caroline Street, and widow of James Grieve. Our sympathy in bereavement with her family of two sons and two daughters and her relatives in Langholm.

On 15th August, Jane Watt Hemp passed away at the Cumberland Infirmary at age 86. Our sympathy in bereavement with her daughter Flo. Morrison of 13 Henry Street, and her daughter Mary and son Andrew.

With warm greetings to all our people.

Yours sincerely,

TOM CALVERT, Minister.

WOMAN'S GUILD

The Guild Committee meets in the hall at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 12th September.

The new Guild session commences on Tuesday, 26th September, when the programme for the evening will be a Cafe Chantale supported by members of the Langholm Operatic Society. The syllabus for meetings of the new session will be available at the opening meeting.

YOUNG WIVES FELLOWSHIP

Programme of meetings - starting time 8 p.m.
September 5 - Handiwork and a chat.
September 19 - Fire Officer from Dumfries - Safety in the home.
October 3 - Handiwork and a chat.
October 17 - Mr. McMillan and Mr. Hotson showing slides.
November 7 - Handiwork and a chat.
November 21 - Facials and Make-Up (to be confirmed).
December 5 - Handiwork and a chat.
December 19 - Christmas Party - Guests St. Mary's Church Young Wives from Hawick.
January 2 - Handiwork and a chat.
January 16 - Burns Supper.

On the Thursdays following each evening meeting from 3 p.m. mothers and children can meet in the Church Hall. On Thursday, 21st December, at 2 p.m. a Children's Christmas Party will be held.

BOYS' BRIGADE

A party of 32 officers and boys of the 1st Langholm Company of the Boys' Brigade held their camp at Maidens near Girvan, on the Glencairn Estate belonging to Mr. Hodge, who does so much charity work in the area.

The weather was very mixed, but a very happy camp atmosphere prevailed with inter-tent competitions, and swimming sessions each day in Mr. Hodge's beautiful heated indoor swimming-pool.

However the weather was nice and sunny for parents’ day on Wednesday, 2nd August - when a large number of parents and friends visited the camp, in spite of the long journey involved. Tea and biscuits were served by the boys and a very happy afternoon was spent in the camp.

This year the company was very fortunate to have the services of Mr. Ronnie Howarth as cook. His cheery disposition and excellent cooking made him a firm favourite with the boys and Mr. Howarth is to be warmly thanked for giving up his valuable time to go with the company.

BAPTISMS

July 2 - Alexander Jardine Bryce, 34 William Street.
August 27 - Susan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Allan Beattie, 91 Townfoot.
August 3 - Walter, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Steele, Holmwood Drive.

MARRIAGES

July 8 - Leslie Hamilton, 146 Woodslea Road, Leeds, to Margaret Lilian Cook, 15 Thomas Telford Road.
August 26 - Gavin John Graham, 27 Henry Street, to Gabrielle Green, Dalmore, Dalbeattie, in St. Andrew's Church, Dumfries.

IN MEMORIAM

July 17 - Mr. George Dunlop Wright, Goodhope, Kirkpatrick-Fleming. Aged 41.
July 19 - Col. Alan Andrew Phillips, Kilncleuch. Aged 82.
July 23 - Mrs. Elizabeth Burgess, 34 Holmwood Drive. Aged 76.
August 5 - Mrs. Agnes Grieve, 10 Grasmere Avenue, Reading. Aged 89.
August 15 - Mrs. Jane Watt Hemp, c/o 13 Henry Street.

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished myI have kept the faith". 2 Timothy 4. 7.

CHURCH CALENDAR

September 10 - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Morning Service. Rev. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs. Robert Borthwick, 18 Henry Street.
September 17 - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Morning Service. Rev. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs. D. I. Anderson, 2 Mary Street.
September 24 - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Morning Service. Rev. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs. A. Irving, 9 Charles Street, Old.
October 1 - 9.30 a.m. Half-Hour Service. 11 a.m. Morning Service. Rev. Tom Calvert. Flowers, Mrs. A. Smith, 29 Thomas Telford Road.

INTIMATION

Coffee Morning with Bring and Buy Stall at Greenbank Eventide Home on Saturday, 9th September at 11 a.m. Gifts for the stall will be gratefully received by the Matron, Mrs. Blackwell.

LIFE AND WORK EDITOR

Mr. Robert D. Kernohan (41) has been appointed Editor of "Life and Work", the monthly magazine of the Church of Scotland. A keen churchman, Mr. Kernohan is the first professional journalist for nearly 40 years to hold the post. He will take up his duties at the beginning of October. Educated at Whitehill School, Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford, Mr. Kernohan was successively chief leader writer, assistant editor, and London editor of the "Glasgow Herald". From 1967 to 1971 he held a political appointment with the Scottish Conservative Central Office, resigning this post last year to return to full-time journalism. He is an elder in Cramond Kirk, Edinburgh and a member of Edinburgh Presbytery.