Shop owner targeted over Sunday opening
THERE was a time when even the children’s swings were chained up on Sundays, such was the strictness of Sabbath observance.
But things have slowly changed on the Presbyterian bastion of Lewis – with Sunday ferries and flights and even a petrol station open.
But Leona Rawlinson, 40, who runs a small tweed shop in Stornoway, sparked an unholy row after she decided to open on Sundays.
She was told people would boycott her shop, thought to be the only retail outlet in the town centre to open, and has been left so intimidated she called the police.
In the latest incident, the Tweed Tastic owner was sent a Bible, accompanied by a letter from Dan MacPhail, secretary of the Lewis and Harris branch of Day One/Lord’s Day Observance Society. He wrote: ‘We are concerned for the spiritual and eternal as well as temporal consequences of such actions of Sunday opening and do not believe that lasting blessing or profit will follow.’
In August, Miss Rawlinson, who grew up on Lewis, was approached by a man to express his views. She felt so intimidated she reported it to the police. In another incident, a woman entered the shop in Church Street on a Sunday and ‘started shouting’.
Miss Rawlinson said: ‘It’s really important to say this does not represent the majority of Christians, just one or two extremists.
‘The majority of Christians have been fantastic and have been messaging me and sending letters of support.
‘I opened on Sundays because of demand, but the behaviour of this minority group has been awful and appalling. It’s been about bombardment and harassment. I will continue to open on Sundays. It is my right and I will not be intimidated.’