Barnhill St. Margaret's Parish Church
A Church of Scotland Parish
OSCR SCO 11017
Broughty Ferry Churches Group
Retreat at St. Mary’s Kinnoull Perth
This year’s retreat took place on 25th – 27th April at St. Mary’s, Kinnoull, Perth. There were ladies from Our Lady of Good Counsel, Broughty Ferry New Kirk and St Luke’s and Queen Street as well as 3 members from our own congregation.
We arrived at about 6 p.m. on Friday evening and were shown to our rooms by Ann McDougall the Secretary who deals with the administration at St. Mary’s. The rooms were large and, although there were 2 single beds in the room, we each had a room to ourselves. There was a gas fire, a desk, 2 chairs, a wash-hand basin and tea/coffee making facilities in the room. There were showers and toilets on every floor.
Supper was served in the large dining room at 6.30 after which we had a talk from Nan Boyd who works for CrossReach which is part of The Church of Scotland Social Care Council.
Nan works with people who abuse substances, either alcohol, drugs or both, to help them to live independently in their local community. It certainly made us appreciate some of the work done in the Church’s name with some of the most vulnerable people. After our session with Nan we all took part in worship. This took place in the beautiful Oratory at the top of the building.
On Saturday morning after a large breakfast we had a talk from the Rev. Scott Burton from St. Matthews Church in Perth. Scott spoke about getting us out of our comfort zones. We discussed what our comfort zones were and how, as a group, we could move out of these zones to work together to make a difference for the better within our community.
After coffee, we had free time to explore the building or the beautiful grounds and there was free time again after the delicious 3 course lunch. It was a lovely day and we walked down the hill into Perth and enjoyed a leisurely stroll along the river bank. After coffee in the afternoon (I think you’ll notice a pattern developing) we had a very interesting talk from Fr. John McManus entitled Making Spirituality Relevant – The Challenge for Today’s Christian.
Supper was, as always, delicious and plentiful and we were joined by our own Lisa Hornel of the 7 Arches Trust. Lisa had come to tell us about the work she is doing in the schools in our area. She has already been invited into Grove Academy and Monifieth High School and she has also been working in our local primary schools. We were all very impressed with Lisa’s presentation and we are sure she will make a big difference in reaching the young people in the area. After Lisa’s talk we finished the evening with a short act of worship, again in the Oratory.
Sunday was lovely and bright and it was a great pleasure to look out of the bedroom window and watch the squirrels and the rabbits run about the garden. After breakfast there were 2 acts of worship – a Mass was said in the large church and a service in the Church of Scotland tradition took place in the Oratory. We were all welcome to attend either of these acts of worship. Again a delicious lunch was served after which we packed our cases and we went for a last stroll around the beautiful, peaceful grounds before we reluctantly took our leave.
The theme of the weekend was ‘Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone ‘. At various times throughout the weekend we were all challenged to do just that. A follow-up meeting has been arranged for those who want to explore ways in which the Broughty Ferry Churches Group can work together to better serve the people in our community.