August 2016 – Old High St. Stephen's, Inverness

Doors Open Day at OHSS

On 17th August 2016

DOORS OPEN DAYS give you free access to buildings across Scotland. As part of the Inverness programme, both the Old High (OH) and St Stephen’s (SS) will open on Saturday 3 September from 10.30am to 4 pm. At OH Robin Versteeg will give an organ recital at 12 noon and at SS there will be an organ recital at 11.30am. We need volunteers to keep both churches open on the day. If you can help for OH please contact Christine MacKenzie on christinemac73<at>hotmail.com and for SS contact Jim Alexander on jbdalex<at>yahoo.com. www.doorsopendays.org.uk/opendays

Meeting about the Old High Hall cancelled

By Pat MacLeod

On 14th August 2016

In News

The Congregational Meeting about the sale of the Old High Hall, planned for this Tuesday night, has, unfortunately, had to be postponed. This is because someone raised a concern about the way it has been intimated to the congregation.

A Congregation Meeting of this sort happens after at least 2 Sunday’s notice has been given to the Congregation. We checked with the Presbytery Clerk and the Principal Clerk of the General Assembly, it is clear that we more than enough notice for the meeting has been given (3 Sundays, not just 2).

However, someone complained that the wording of the announcements did not make clear what the purpose of the meeting was to be. In fact, myself and our Session Clerk, Linda Philip, and Depute Session Clerk, Christine Mackenzie, are quite sure that everyone did understand what the purpose of the meeting was, so this complaint was a complete surprise to us. Throughout this process, the Session Clerks and myself have been utterly committed to being open with the Congregation about the reasons for the need for the sale, and the process to be followed.

In order to absolutely ensure that everything is done according to the law of the Church, we will now postpone Tuesday’s meeting. We intend to propose to the Leadership Team that the new meeting take place on 13 September, and will give due notice nearer the time.

Our apologies that this has happened. Of course we want to get this decision over with. You have today the information which we were giving out in advance of the meeting, and you will notice that not much has changed since the Kirk Session made the decision to sell the Hall, and that if you were not already acquainted with this information we trust you will find it informative. As always, and continuing our policy of openness, Linda and Christine remain happy to answer your questions on this matter.