Rotary’s support for new town defib kit
The Rotary Club of Blairgowrie has donated £1600 towards the purchase and installation of a new defibrillator in the town.
The potentially life-saving equipment is to be installed in the former telephone box on the High Street in Blairgowrie, which was recently purchased for £1 from BT by Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Council.
The cash boost will also cover the cabinet required to house the defibrillator.
The telephone box has been decommissioned by BT and the community council is aiming to have the debrillator installed and operational by April this year.
Speaking after the most recent meeting of the community council, held online last week, chair Phil Seymour said that they were very grateful to the Rotary for its support.
He said: “This generous donation has significantly boosted our efforts to provide the life-saving equipment for the town, which while we hope it will not be required, we recognise is still a valuable resource to have.
“The box needs to be thoroughly cleaned out and, once Covid restrictions allow, we will install the new defibrillator and signage recognising the Rotary Club’s generous support.
“Thanks also to Pete Richardson from First Aid Perthshire for his advice and support in sourcing the equipment.
“As well as the practicalities of cleaning the box and installing the defib, we are looking at ways we can decorate the box which will make it a really nice feature for the town as well as a potential life-saver.”
Bob Ellis is president of Blairgowrie Rotary Club.
He said: “The Rotary Club of Blairgowrie has, for all its 74 years, always supported the communities in east Perthshire in any way that we can.
“We also support parts of the world where Rotary International deems fit or when we get a project that our club can see the benefits from.
“Through this dreadful pandemic we have assisted financially many local groups, who in turn are supporting those in need with provisions and we will keep this up as best we can.
“At one of our weekly Zoom meetings, I invited Pete Richardson to give us a talk about First Aid Perthshire, which he founded, and needless to say it was very interesting indeed.
“The talk also pointed out to us just how important it is to have a defibrillator in as many accessible places as possible, not just in Blairgowrie but everywhere as it could make all the difference between saving a life or not.
“It was drawn to our attention that the disused phone box in the High Street had been looked at by the community council as an asset for the town and, in particular, to have a defib sited there.
“We were given the costs by the chair of the community council, Phil Seymour, and after a short discussion by Rotary Club members, we agreed that this would be a wise and appropriate project for our club to support and therefore have funded the defib.
“We now wait until we have clearance from the Scottish Government as to when the phone box can be cleaned and decorated and the defib fitted.”
The community council is also encouraging people to ‘make a wish and help save a life’ at the town’s historic wishing well.
Volunteers from the statutory organisation are responsible for collecting the money placed in the well and then donating it to local good causes and community groups.
Organisations such as Blair in Bloom and the Blairgowrie and Rattray Braemar
Association have benefited in the past.
This year, donations are being collected to go towards the maintainence costs of the new defibrillator as well as those of others in the town that the community council is responsible for such as the one at Davidsons Chemist on the Wellmeadow which was installed by the town’s resilience group – which is part of the community council.
Donations will also continue to be made to local charities.
Abbey Church/Bendochy Church
Due to the current government restrictions, all services at Bendochy and the Abbey Church are suspended until further notice.
See the website www.bandcachurch.org.uk for the daily reflections.
Blairgowrie Parish Church
Online worship in Blairgowrie Parish Church on Sunday was conducted by the Rev. Benjamin Abeledo.
The call to worship was followed by the hymn ‘O Worship the King’ from a recorded service on July 21, 2019, and prayers of approach and confession and The Lord’s Prayer.
The scripture reading by Keith Redwood, a new member, was from Joshua ch 5 vv 1-12, The circumcision at Gilgal.
The hymn ‘Fight the Good Fight’ was from the recorded service on July 28, 2019, followed by prayers of Mr Abeledo’s sermon, titled, ‘Joshua: Consecration Before Conquest.’’
Mr Abeledo said life is filled with battles of all kinds: military, moral, legal, physical, and, of course, spiritual. From a Christian point of view, success over it requires a spiritual solution. Joshua ch 5 highlights two: commitment and celebration.
What is seen in Chapter 5 is a very important truth on how we can see in the battles to come our way. And this required the implementation of two things which applied to the people of Israel.
First is the commitment to the Covenant that God made with Abraham. At the heart of every battle that we fight is a spiritual battle. There is nothing in this world which is just accidental.
That means that in order to overcome the spiritual challenges in any situation it is our responsibility to draw upon God’s strength, to proceed with God’s wisdom, and to pursue God’s glory. It must be all the time His way and under His guidance.
This is why God told Joshua to stop the advance into the long-awaited Promised Land and to conduct a spiritual health check of the new generation of people of Israel who were to go into the Promised Land.
But they were not ready to enter as their relationship with God was not right. Their spiritual lives were in a mess. Joshua recognised that when Israel came out of Egypt that generation refused to obey God’s laws and that is why consequently they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and were outside the Covenant.
Before Israel could conquer Canaan they had first to come into a proper relationship with God. Joshua knew immediately that consecration must come before conquest. There has to be a spiritual circumcision of the heart.
That is the first point: Commitment to the Covenant.
Next week the congregation will continue on this theme and reflect upon the second point which is the celebration of the Passover.
The service closed with prayers of intercession, the hymn ‘Forth In Thy Name’ from the recorded service on June 30, 2019, and the benediction.
All sermons and further information can be accessed at the website www. blairgowrieparishchurch.org.uk/sermons.
Blairgowrie Evangelical Church
Blairgowrie Evangelical Church’s Sunday services are broadcast online at 11.15am and are available to watch afterwards.
Reflecting on Sunday this week, pastor Derek Johnston said: “After the recent winter weather it seemed appropriate to begin our service with the comforting words of Isaiah ch 1 vv18, ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow...’
“We then sang a beautifully melodic song, ‘I cast my mind to Calvary’ which describes how God has enabled us to have peace with him through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
“After a time of prayer we then had the final part of our mini-series looking at Christian discipleship, focussing on ‘Witnessing’.
“The message was based on Matthew ch 4 v 19, ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men.’
“We saw how Jesus was calling the disciples to a life of sharing the message of Jesus and how that call applies to the church today.
“We thought about the challenge this presents to us when living in a culture where many have the worldview that faith is a private matter.
“Yet God equips the Christian for this work. His Holy Spirit works within us to produce such a love for Him and for others that we have an inner compulsion to speak about Jesus.
“We concluded with the encouragement that despite our failings and imperfect attempts to share the message, that the power of God’s love is in the message itself, not our skill or cleverness at presenting it.
“We finished the service by singing the hymn, ‘Facing a task unfinished’.”
This week the prayer meeting will be held at the usual time of 7.30pm on Wednesday.
The Sunday School continues to meet online on Wednesdays.
For more information, see www.bechurch. co.uk.
Cargill/Burrelton Church
As a result of the current Covid-19 restrictions, Cargill/Burrelton Church is closed to the public until further notice.
Kinclaven Church
Representatives from Kinclaven Church have said that government restrictions mean it is not currently advisable to have groups of people meeting in the church.
Riverside Methodist Church
Rev Nik Wooller began Sunday’s message by quoting words by an unnamed Jewish person written during the Second World War.
Rev Wooller said: “‘I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. And I believe in love, even when there’s no-one there. And I believe in God, even when he is silent’.”
She went on to explain: “These words were written by a Jewish person trying to hang on during the Second World War.
“It was a desperate and dangerous time to be Jewish and the unknown person who wrote these
words was proclaiming a word of hope where hope seemed dead.
“These words could have been written or spoken by the prophet Isaiah trying to offer a word of hope to people who were desperate and whose faith was in trouble.
“Jerusalem was razed and sacked by Babylonian soldiers in 587 BC.
“The temple was destroyed, and the leaders of the community were taken to Babylon.”
Rev Wooller continued by referencing the prophet Isaiah, who said: “Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted.”
This was said to be a reminder of their forced march to Babylon and that their faith was in danger.
Rev Wooller continued: “It felt as if God had deserted them, but the prophet tried to remind them of what they knew but seemed to be forgetting.
“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the Earth.
“He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
“He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.
“Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted.
“But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Rev Wooller added: “The people of Israel had to adjust their understanding of what God was up to when the Babylonians took them into exile.
“They felt abandoned by God. But the prophet asks them to remember and re-frame their experience, so they can live in confidence and hope as they will face restoration and more change.
“We need to go beyond the chaos of the present, to step aside and to spend time with God building that relationship.
“We are reminded to open our eyes and our hearts to what only God can offer.
“There are times when we need to be intentional about this, but there are also unexpected times when we can experience God’s presence and promise in ways we didn’t imagine.”
For more information, see the website www. riverside-methodist-church.co.uk.
Scottish Episcopal Churches
All services at local churches have been postponed until further notice.
Rev David Cameron said the situation would be reviewed in due course.
Any changes to the situation will be featured in the Blairie and the churches’ website, www. abcsaints.co.uk.
Award-winning environmental group Blair in Bloom held its AGM online last week.
All of the office bearers were re-elected to their roles at the well-attended virtual event.
Mary Birch stays on as chair, Janine Seymour vice-chair and Pat Lumsden treasurer.
In her report on the previous 12 months, Mary reflected on what she described as “a year unlike any other”.
She said: “Following our many successes in 2019, we started 2020 on a high.
“We were out in January litter picking and tidying up and February saw our AGM and a fun quiz night, as well as a very successful pop-up shop, which was fortuitous as these were our only fundraising events for 2020.
“Our final face-to-face committee meeting was held at the beginning of March, when we took the decision to suspend group working – naively we thought it would just be for a few weeks.
“Information then came from Perth that the plant orders for 2020 had been cancelled and no group working was to take place until further notice.
“March 23 saw the first national lockdown announced. I think we were all stunned and frightened at what we were facing.
“Thankfully, bulb planting during the autumn of 2019 – the crocuses in Elm Drive, the daffodils at the Golf Course Road corner and in the containers around the town and Rattray - all served to cheer us up.”
Mary went on to say that despite the lockdown restrictions a great deal of work went on behind the scenes and online.
A sunflower growing competition for children was launched in May with starter packs given out through the four community larders in the town, and in June volunteers
were able to start working in socially distanced groups of two.
Some planting was done around the town thanks to residents and Moyness Nursery who sourced and supplied plants.
Work got under way on Coronation Corner with contractor Alex Butter of Ballinluig on site in October, and in December volunteers planted more than 150 shrubs, herbaceous plants and trees at the refurbished site.
With one major project completed, Blair in Bloom set out to achieve its next amibitious goal and secured a grant from The Scottish Land Fund through Blairgowrie and Rattray Development Trust, enabling them to start negotiations for the purchase of the walled garden at Mount Ericht.
Work on clearing the containers and
planting more bulbs continued in the autumn, within the changing guidelines and restrictions. And working with Robert Smith Contractors, the large container at Rattray Church was moved to Northlands Care Home for residents there to enjoy.
Blair in Bloom finished the year with bowls of narcissi delivered on Christmas Day to Saturday Lunch Club recipients by volunteers from the Blairgowrie and Rattray Independent (BaRI) Food Project.
Mary concluded: “It was a year like no other and for many life will never be the same again. I sincerely hope that we never have to repeat a year like this and, although ‘back to normal’ may not happen for a while, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“Blair in Bloom will continue to do as much as it can to ensure that our town is the ‘jewel in the crown’.
“My thanks go to the Bloom Committee for their continued support, hard work, good humour and vision during this most challenging time.
“Thanks also to those volunteers who were able to work with us when allowed.”