I write in appreciation of the Rev Mary Stobo’s fine obituary (November) to the Rev Leslie Goskirk, with whom I was associated for three summers as a young divinity student (as were numerous others) during the 1970s in Leslie’s Sutherland parishes of Lairg linked with Rogart together with nearby Shinness. What fine training such parishes afforded, those summer student assistantships having been written into those parish churches’ basis of union.

In my day such (centrally funded) appointments were optional but a case might be made for making them more widely available and compulsory given their potential value in ministerial training as I personally discovered. I spent additional summers at Kilmarnock: St Kentigern’s and Hamilton: Trinity, each of which I valued, but Sutherland was special. I look back on the then ministries of the Revs Stewart Jeffrey, Jim Hudson and Leslie Goskirk respectively, giving thanks to God for each of them for their invaluable input in relation to my own preparation for the ministry.

Alistair Jessamine (Rev) (retired), Strathaven