AS part of a bustling, busy church in Arbroath, the Guild at St Andrew’s have not been immune to the social changes that have impacted on all long-standing groups and organisations.

Traditional structures have been left behind as the Guild recognised that changes in society meant that people individually no longer wanted to take on formal roles such as president, secretary and treasurer.

Shona Kemp and Doris Bowie who currently co-ordinate the Guild branch, say the need for change became apparent during the last couple of years as Shona prepared to stand down as President and there was no-one willing to take over the role.

The work of the Guild is now shared out with the members of the committee and members of the Guild all taking an active part in setting the worship or taking part in the worship at our Guild meetings.

Shona explains: “We have about 40 people who attend regularly. The oldest member (my mum) is 91 and the youngest, Doris’s daughter, is about 25.

“The work of what was previously a committee is now shared out so that no one person is solely responsible –at least on paper – as it could potentially put people off.

“We now have two secretaries and two treasurers and so on so the burden is shared and there is always help and support available, meaning it is not such a big job for anyone.”

She added: “Today no one is wanting to take on the responsibility, so we thought changing the structures would help.

“We still meet as a Guild in the evening as we want to still bring in younger people and they can’t make it during the day.

“For our older members we try to arrange to have them picked up and dropped off, but we were determined to keep it as a night-time Guild.”

The branch meets throughout the year, although the meetings reduce a little over the summer months.

“We meet then just once a month and do things like have a fish tea and watch a film, or go for a walk or visit a local attraction. These meetings were at the suggestions of the members who thought it a long break over the summer months. We have a Guild outing in the summer.”

The Guild, which meets every two weeks, recently surprised the minister at St Andrew’s, the Rev Dr Martin Fair, with a flash mob during Sunday morning worship on Guild Sunday in November – one of a number of mould-breaking events staged by the group in recent times.

They also boast tremendous variety in their programme, with Tai Chi, African drummers and a Guild praise band featuring at morning worship.

The key, says Shona, is flexibility and maintaining a sense of fun and fellowship: recently each Guild member donned headscarves at a rededication by Martin after the Guild were depicted by a member of the congregation as a stereotypical woman in a headscarf during intimations on one Sunday.

The gesture was designed to demonstrate that the Guild don’t conform to such stereotypes, (particularly with national support for ground-breaking projects including one seeking to eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation) but also have a sense of humour – and the demonstration was applauded by the minister.

The Guild recently had some of the youth group attend their meeting learning about what they do as a group and how the Guild can assist them to achieve goals. The Guild has also been willing to take part in help with children’s addresses (dressing up as different workplace characters to help out during worship.

Shona explains: “We do find that the older members and younger members all mix very well and that’s important. We also have the support of Martin our minister. The Guild likes fun and fellowship – we have lots of laughter at our meetings.”

She has a simple but important hope for the future of the branch: “I want to keep the Guild going, progress forward and bring in younger members. As a Guild we need to keep evolving and learning.”