Life in the Parishes of Upper Tweeddale

Church Life

The linking of the four parishes of Upper Tweeddale is long established and well settled and nearly all of the business of the churches is handled in the co-operative and good-humoured General Kirk Session which meets five times a year.   Individual Kirk Sessions meet only when necessary.

There is worship in each of the four churches on a Sunday morning.   The minister conducts worship in two churches each week and the services in the other two churches are conducted either by ministerial supply or by members of our Worship Workshop.   This small group of trained church members conducts worship regularly.

Members of the Worship Workshop also take on a lot of the responsibility for the evening services in each of the churches during Easter Week.   Other special services include a united service early on Easter morning in the ruins of Glenholm Church which is followed by a welcome breakfast at the Glenholm Centre.

At Thanksgiving in the Autumn there is a united service followed by a potluck lunch, which moves between the four churches. One half of the alphabet bring savoury dishes, one half sweet. Some years this works better than others! Last year in Skirling we had a heavy bias towards puddings...never a problem for sweet-toothed Scots!

There are special services at Christmas.   A family service on Christmas Eve at Tweedsmuir and on Christmas morning in Stobo, a candlelit service in Drumelzier, and a Watchnight service which alternates between Broughton and Skirling.   There is no food involved.

Each year the General Kirk Session goes on retreat, enjoying a social lunch and then listening to a guest speaker.   We have recently had a talk from a Moslem speaker followed the next year by a speaker from the Edinburgh Jewish Community.   The Kirk Session plus partners also enjoys an outing each year. Last year we were invited to the Edinburgh Central Mosque and had an interesting tour and an excellent supper.

There is an active Guild organisation across the four parishes with both men and women members.

For children there is a Cool Club after school at Broughton Primary.   Once a year everyone joins together to help run a Holiday Holiday Club

Club. This has become a feature of the local children's school year. During the Easter holidays in 2008 the club had the theme of Waste Watchers. It ran over 4 days with around 20 children attending each day. Crafts and decoration used waste such as sweetie papers and plastic cups to make posters and useful items. The theme was turning nothing to something.