Communion Table discovered in Govan
Rutherglen church go- ers recently had a happy reunion with an item of significance.
They spotted the Communion Table from the old West Parish Church, which was being used at a Presbytery meeting in Glasgow.
The table has a long and proud history.
One local church member, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “In 1936, to mark the centenary of the West Parish Church in Chapel Street a ‘ handsome and dignified’ Communion Table was installed. It was the third Communion Table the church had used over the century.
“After the re-union in 1965 of the West Parish and the former Munro Church, the Communion Table was taken round the corner to the new West Parish Church building in Glasgow Road - the street name was changed to Western Avenue in the summer of 1974 - for safe keeping.
“When the sanctuary was closed for urgent repairs and redecoration from Easter Day, until early June 1967, that Communion Table was used in the main hall, along with the Hammond organ from the old church.
“The Rev Allan Bowie was, at the time, the Presbyterial Superintendent in the Govan area of Glasgow. He discovered that one of the churches in that district had no Communion Table. The top of the organ console was used for the purpose. This was St Mary’s Parish Church. It had been built in the 1870s. As it was of no further use in the West Parish that congregation in Govan was offered the table.
“A structural alteration was undertaken involving the removal of some pews, and the building of a platform on which the Rutherglen Communion Table still rests 45 years after it was gifted.
“St Mary’s is the building in which the Presbytery of Glasgow hold their monthly meetings. It is now called Govan and Linthouse Parish Church, having been involved in numerous unions over the years.
“Seeing the 78-year-old Communion Table being used put lumps of a pleasant and proud nature in the throats of several Ruglonians who have been attending Presbytery meetings over the last year or so.”