BARN HARVEST

The rural Perthshire parish of Mid Strathearn held a harvest thanksgiving service with a difference. With its church buildings not yet reopened due to Covid-19, local elders Jo and Osla Guest offered a large barn on Drumphin Farm for the gathering. Permission having been sought and given by the Presbytery, nearly 50 people gathered to give thanks for the harvest, sitting on suitably socially distanced bales of hay, in the barn decorated by members of the congregation with fruit, flowers and hay. The recently united parish is currently vacant, and the service was led by retired minister the Rev Marina Brown, who encouraged all to nurture the seeds of faith in Christ.

Interim Moderator Marjorie Clark said: “We did think at one point with the weather forecast that we would have to cancel, but our farming friends are made of sterner stuff. “People came prepared in their wellies and it was a wonderful service of thanksgiving. “This is a rural parish with a committed and forward-looking congregation, and it was so good to be able to gather together again after so many weeks of being isolated.”  

The retiring collection of £400 will be split between Christian Aid’s Harvest Appeal and the local Foodbank.