Nov18

Pastoral letter
November 2018
Our two churches will be at the heart of the commemoration of the
100 th Anniversary of the 1918 Armistice in our respective parishes.
During the whole of this month a display showing the impact of the
First World War on rural life will be mounted in Eddleston. The
display forms part of an exhibition which was put together by
Gillian Chapman from Eddleston and was featured at the Royal
Highland Show eighteen months ago. It has also appeared since
then in Cupar.
Gillian is kindly lending her display to the church where it can be
viewed daily from 11am to 3pm throughout the month. In Gillian’s
words “the exhibition examines the impact of World War One for
the people of rural Scotland in the immediate post war years and
provides an insight into the challenges they faced and the
adjustments they had to make in a new time of peace, and how
this has shaped the face of farming and the rural Scotland we see
today.”
Meanwhile in Peebles a giant poppy with “100 Years” below it will
be projected onto the front of the Old Parish Church each evening
of the week leading up to Remembrance Sunday, providing a
striking symbol of this important anniversary. Also some
silhouettes or “Tommies”, two-dimensional life-size figures of First
World War British soldiers will appear in pews in the church,
providing a poignant reminder of the large-scale loss of life during
the Great War. Like every community in the country Eddleston
and Peebles both lost many young men and it is important that our
churches should be taking a lead in the commemoration of the
signing of the Armistice.
We shall of course have our Services of Remembrance of all who
have died in all the armed conflicts from the beginning of last
century. The Eddleston service will begin at 10.50am and will
include the two-minute silence at 11 o’clock. The Old Parish
Church service will begin at 10am and will finish in time to allow
those who wish to proceed to the Civic Ceremony at the County
War Memorial at 10.50am.
With all my love,
Calum.