A church in ‘Little Scotland’

THE Rev Norman Nicoll is minister at St Andrew’s Church in Corby.

“St Andrew’s in Corby is a gathered church, originally established to give a place of worship to the first influx of workers who came down from Scotland to man the iron and steelworks of Stewarts & Lloyds in the 1930s. In fact, St Andrew’s celebrated the 80th anniversary of its current church building in July last year.

“In 1950 Corby was declared a New Town and by 1961, a third of the town’s population had been born in Scotland, according to the census, bringing with them their traditions, dialect and culture and earning the town (which is more than 200 miles south of the border) its reputation as England’s ‘Little Scotland’. Steel manufacturing ended in Corby 35 years ago, but the Scots stayed on, “ he says.

“From its origins as a Scottish church in a steel town dominated by Scots, the St Andrew’s of today is having to find new ways to become relevant in a now diverse and very multi-cultural town, whose heavy-industry has been replaced by a new generation of manufacturing and logistics businesses and whose Scottish heritage has been overlaid with subsequent migrations from Poland and other parts of the world.

“Like the town itself, St Andrew’s is sometimes challenged by the changes we need to make, but we’re trying to find ways to balance the needs of our older and perhaps more traditional congregation members with those of our younger families and individuals to create a church that has a sustainable future, as well as a great heritage.

“Like many mainstream churches, we have an ageing congregation and we need to be able to attract younger members to retain the vibrancy of the church. We’re lucky to have an elegant church building, a brilliant hall and beautiful gardens, all of which make St Andrew’s a lovely place to worship, so our challenge for the next few years will be to show that within our traditional walls we are home to a contemporary church that is open to all. Balancing the books is an issue for many churches nowadays and we’re no different, but we’ve ridden bikes, walked across Scotland, run quiz nights and held concerts – and every little helps!

“Like many Church of Scotland churches, we introduced projection screens and a mix of modern and traditional hymns a couple of years ago. We’ve established our website, social media presence and quarterly magazine to make us more accessible to both the congregation and our local community and we spent the summer months converting unused storage rooms in our church hall into relaxed and modern spaces for meetings and social gatherings.

“Social gatherings have always been a part of St Andrew’s DNA and last year we welcomed church-goers and non-church goers to film nights, talks, drama and a BBQ in the pouring rain (during one of the driest years on record!), in addition to the traditional Scottish Country Dancing Club, which still meets every Wednesday,” says Norman.

“And while a good church hall is great fun for social events, it became a lifesaver during the winter when we were able to use it as a crisis shelter to help our local homeless charity provide safe overnight accommodation for some of Corby’s most vulnerable adults. We continued to host a food kitchen at the hall as part of our Outreach programme throughout the summer, providing food and fellowship for individuals living rough in the town. It’s vital work which continues to be supported by volunteers from the church.

“Our Outreach Team are active and will be working with Churches Together in Corby during the coming year

“St Andrew’s is a church which is moving into the future while embracing its traditional values. We’re managing change and modernisation, while enjoying our journey of faith together. While ‘Little Scotland’ may seem a long way south of the border, it has a wonderful sense of community which we’re blessed to be a part of.”