Bookmark's next book

The next book we shall be reading and discussing is:
'The testament of Gideon Mack'
by James Robertson

Our meeting will be on Monday 23 April 2007.

Diary dates for week beginning 25 March

Monday 26 March 7.30pm - Bookmark will be discussing The Island by Victoria Hyslop

Tuesday 27 March 7pm - Craft Group meeting in Church
Choir rehearsal in Church

Thursday 29 March 10am Eucharist in Crypt Chapel

Sat 31 March 12noon Lent Talk by the Revd Andrew Patterson

4 candidates for Bishop of Aberdeen

Four candidates have been short-listed for the post of Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney (one of seven Dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church) which became vacant last July following the retirement of the Rt Rev Bruce Cameron, who served the Diocese as Bishop for 14 years.

This short-list is the second attempt at electing a new Bishop, as the synod responsible for electing a Bishop was unable to reach a majority consensus when presented with a short-list of candidates last December. This synod (known as the Electoral Synod) comprises representatives of clergy and lay church members from the Diocese of Aberdeen & Orkney. Its role is to meet with each of the candidates (this meeting will take place on 21 April) and then to elect a new Bishop on 28 April. The candidates are:

· The Very Rev Canon Dr Robert Gillies, Rector of St Andrew’s Church, St Andrews; Canon of St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth and Dean of the Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane

· The Rev Canon Timothy Morris, Rector of Good Shepherd Church, Edinburgh; Priest in Charge of St Salvador’s Church, Edinburgh and Honorary Canon of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh

· The Rev Canon Dr Emsley Nimmo, Rector of St Margaret’s, Aberdeen and Canon of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Aberdeen

· The Rev Canon Dr Philip Noble , Rector of St Ninian’s, Prestwick and Canon of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow

Commenting on the short-list, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, The Most Rev Dr Idris Jones says “Each of the candidates brings a distinctive style and depth of experience in ministry within the Scottish Episcopal Church.”

Abolition of Slave Trade Commemoration Walk

Abolition of the Slave Trade Commemoration Walk - Musselburgh - 25th March

On the day which is exactly 200 years since the Westminster Parliament passed the Act to abolish the Slave Trade, ACTS invites you to take part in a walk from the centre of Musselburgh to the Gardens at Inveresk Lodge.

On the walk we will follow in imagination the steps taken by Robert Wedderburn, the son of James Wedderburn, who owned Inveresk Lodge, and of Rosana , a slave maid on one of his Jamaican plantations. Robert came to Musselburgh in 1795 to visit his father. He did not receive a good welcome - being sent away with "a cracked sixpence" - and became a radical and well known anti-slavery activist in England.

Come along and share in this event during which we will

- mark the success of the efforts of those, slave and free, in Scotland and elsewhere, who struggled to end the Slave Trade

- remember the suffering and inhumane treatment inflicted on those who were enslaved and

- recognise that Scots were complicit in the Trade and profited from it.

Share too in demonstrating that the Churches care about and are prepared to fight against the modern forms of slavery - trafficking; forced and bonded labour; - which still require to be overcome.

The walk will set out at 14.30 from the small band stand in the riverside gardens beside the "Roman" bridge (opposite Inveresk Road) and follow the River Esk Walkway to Inveresk Lodge Gardens.

Please try to be at the starting point by 14.15.

It would be helpful if you would let us know if you plan to come along. Email tommoyes@acts-scotland.org before March 21st.

Notes i) There are several car parks in the centre of Musselburgh but very few parking spaces at Inveresk.

ii) The walk is about a mile and a half in length and is mainly on flat ground.

Faith in Older People

Faith in Older People

The Faith in Older People team is running a course on spiritual care for people with dementia in six evening sessions at the diocesan centre (21a Grosvenor Crescent) on Tuesdays between 1 May and 5 June from 6.45 to 8.45pm. For further information or a booking form please contact fiop@dioceseofedinburgh.org or ring 0131 3467981 (Mondays to Wednesdays).

Diary dates for week beginning 18 March

Sun 18 March 7pm Confirmation Class - The History of the SEC

Tue 20 March 7.30pm Vestry meeting

Sat 24 March 10.30am-4pm Water Festival at St Philip's

Sat 24 March 12noon Lent Talk by Katie Weaver

Breaking the Chains

Marking the 200^th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade

25 March 2007, 6pm
St John’s Church, Princes Street
FREE

On the 25 March this year, it will be two hundred years since the Abolition Bill to end the British slave trade was passed. To mark this day, St John’s church on Princes Street will be hosting a civic commemoration, open to everyone. Reverend Ewan Aitken (City of Edinburgh Council) will be introducing the event with performances from Roy Bailey, David Ferrard and Karine Polwart, school soloists and choral music with a rendition of the ‘Amazing Grace’ hymn that was written by ex-slave ship owner, John Newton. There will also be a minute of silence to remember the ongoing slavery in the world two hundred years on.

For other events in this programme, please see www.festivalofspirituality.org.uk

Christian Aid Appeal

2007 APPEAL FOR THE ANNUAL CHRISTIAN AID BOOK SALE

at St Andrew’s and St George’s Church, George Street

Saturday 12 May (10am-4pm), Monday 14 – Friday 18 May (10am-3.30pm)

to raise funds for Christian Aid

WANTED

Books of every kind (hardback, paperback, fiction, non-fiction, children’s, any language)

Printed Ephemera (Scottish, playing cards, sporting, catalogues, programmes, albums, maps etc)

Sheet Music

Antiques (collectables, household goods)

Paintings (drawings, prints)

Records (CDs, DVDs, Videos)

Stamps and Postcards

Toys (Games, Jigsaws)

Contributions may be brought to the Church on or after Monday 30 April 9am-9pm Monday-Friday

and if possible, by Wednesday 9 May.

Pastoral Visiting

Thanks to BigBulkyAnglican for this...

"I remember reading these words from Henri Nouwen and finding them to be influential on my pastoral practice - and I may have blogged them before.

All too often other pressures mean that I cannot find the time I would like to offer to pastoral visiting but ought not to apologise for this:

It is good to visit people who are sick, dying, shut in,
handicapped, or lonely. But it is also important not to
feel guilty when our visits have to be short or can only
happen occasionally. Often we are so apologetic about our
limitations that our apologies prevent us from really being
with the other when we are there. A short time fully
present to a sick person is much better than a long time
with many explanations of why we are too busy to come more
often.
If we are able to be fully present to our friends when we
are with them, our absence too will bear many fruits. Our
friends will say: "He visited me" or "She visited me," and
discover in our absence the lasting grace of our presence.

Building update

From Ann Raith...

The land adjacent to the church housed the old Hall and behind it, a large house called "The Priory" where Sunday School, Youth Fellowship, and various other meetings were held, and a succession of Curates were housed in a section set up as a self-contained flat. We all assumed the house had been used as an ecclesiastical residence of some sort, and were amused to discover much later from Tom Muirhead that it had been built by a bookie who had won a lot of money on a horse called "The Priory"!

The Hall was built under war-time restrictions and was awful! The floor was concrete about 3 feet thick, covered with some composition, red in colour, that became slimy with condensation when any social activity took place. I well remember a Youth Club party to which I wore a new dress, white with sprigs of flowers (I felt I was the bee's knees!), and falling on this red sludge during an over-enthusiastic birl in some game or other. Kitchen and toilets were basic, to put it kindly.

Both buildings fell into disrepair for lack of funds and the land was sold to the developers of the present block of flats. It was the proceeds of this sale that enabled the re-structuring of the interior of the church to convert it to a multi-purpose building with extra rooms in the crypt. Tom oversaw all of this and was a tower of strength. Hence "The Muirhead Room".

Diocesan Synod Report

Our Diocesan Synod met on 10 March at Palmerston Place Church in Edinburgh (toasty warm unlike our own cathedral which was frosty cold!). What did we discuss?

1. Firstly we had a superb sermon by Bishop Brian on the reading of the day which was the Prodigal Son - or the parable of the 'Troubled Family' as he put it. You can guess who the family was.

2. Then we discussed the new Marriage Liturgy which is in its final stages of revision. One or two wee grumbles about the Ruth and Naomi prayer. Someone seemed to think it was unseemly to have a prayer about the relationship between two women in a wedding. (The theme is Journey) I don't happen to think it is unseemly at all. I like the Liturgy and in fact am using it with two couples at the moment who are about to be married. We like the choices available.

3. We had a report from my own Mission and Ministry Committee. Nancy announced that we now have enough congregations signed up to become a Fair Trade Diocese so that's good news. Michael reported on the current programmes in CMD 1-3 (my lot) and CMD 4+. There are some new events there to look out for. Elspeth reported on the Adventures in Faith programme which must surely be the best in the Province! And Ann proposed a new link with Diocese of Cape Coast Ghana. (It passed)

4. The Mothers Union gave a report. It is still around and not just for mothers either, apparently.

5. Elections for Synod members passed without any votes needed.

6. I asked who had the authority to make changes to Daily Prayer and the newly formatted 1982 Scottish Liturgy. (The Psalter in DP is on mid-blue paper which I can't read.) It would appear that I've to put it in writing to the Liturgy Committee.

7. The Rule 10 Motion from last Synod is to be discussed in Area Councils. We agreed that the Standing Committee should have other folk on it, not just Chairs of Boards who may have a vested interest in their own budgets. We had a good old discussion on Representation at General Synod and on how it could be worked out proportionally. (Poor old Argyll!)

8. Finance was almost exciting for a change with lovely pie-charts to look at and clear explanations. Some naughty folk are not paying their Quota but it seems that nothing can be done about that. (I have some ideas but I want to keep my job so I'll keep them to myself for now!)

9. We revised a few Canons but not in a major way. (We just added 'vulnerable adults' to some)

10. I'm afraid I missed the Synod Clerk's bit on Statistics as I was comparing my own to others at the time. (Interesting to see that we in St M's had just as many communicants making communion as one of the very large congregations). The Synod Clerk is also the Retreats Secretary and he made a plea for more folk to come. (In my case it was to do with the Retreat Leader this year.)

11. Sadly the Dean did not give us a laugh as usual with his report. Very sad and sorely missed.

And that was that. Quite a good Synod, I think. And I was proud to say that St M's was represented by the youngest Alternative Lay Rep (by about 50 years!)

Diary dates for week beginning 11 March

Sunday 11 March 7pm Confirmation Class in church - subject Prayer

Monday 12 March 7.30pm Meeting for readers and intercessors - new people welcome

Saturday 17 March 10am Church cleaning - all welcome!

Saturday 17 March 12noon Lent Talk - Rev Bob Gould

Churchyard

The farmland on which the church and grounds sit was feued from the Marquis of Abercorn in 1825 by the church founders Lieut. Col. Halyburton & his wife Eliza and James & Susannah Rutherford. They rapidly had the “chapel” erected at their own expense and it was opened in May 1828.

The Vestry soon sought the right to open a burying ground around the chapel but became embroiled in a dispute with the owner of a neighbouring villa who insighted the Kirk Session of Duddingstone, who had also opened a burying ground, to engage in litigation with St. Marks. The case was eventually decided in favour of St. Marks and the burying ground was consecrated on 11 November 1828 by Bishop Sandford. The first recorded burial service took place a month later.

Lairs were either purchased or leased for periods of fourteen years after which the Vestry was entitled to make further use of any lair upon which the lease had not been renewed “and to cause all Tombstones, Monuments or Tablets placed thereon to be removed”! Purchasers were bound to “enclose their respective Lots with Boundary & Division Walls...At least six feet in depth below the surface”. The 1859 Lair Plan shows evidence these walls were erected, however nothing can be seen above ground today.

Early management of the burial ground appears to have been chaotic. The first lair plan was lost and a new plan made in 1859, however problems soon arose when lairs in the area immediately behind the church, which were believed to be vacant were found to be occupied.

The problem proved so great that the Vestry prohibited all further internments in December 1862 except in Block C and the border on the east boundary wall. Unfortunately it “proved difficult to dispose of this ground, as no-one like[d] the position".

The consequent shortage of available lairs resulted in plans to remove the trees in the side borders in front of the church so as to use the ground for burials.

Further problems arose at the end of the nineteenth century when the chancel was added to the church. The unusual construction which can be seen today arose from the need to span the structure over occupied lairs beneath.

The burial ground continues to be used to this day.

Records of past lives

The real interest of the burial ground is the record of past lives that it provides. In the early eighteenth century there was a large influx of military and naval officers into Portobello. Many of them were Episcopalians and St Mark’s soon became favoured by them. This is reflected in the high occurrence of early monuments dedicated to officers and their families. Of particular note is the memorial in front of the church entrance to Lieut. Col. Halyburton himself, late of the 7^th Royal Fusiliers. More poignant is the recently renewed memorial to Joseph Huey MD, Assistant Surgeon, 14^th Kings Light Dragoons, erected by his brother officers as a mark of their esteem and regard.

Eight of St Mark’s rectors are buried in the grounds, including the first rector George Maurice Drummond who worked tirelessly for the poor of Portobello through the Portobello Destitute & Sick Society.

There are also records of great loss. That of Rev. Boyle who buried two wives in four years. The second “died to his inexpressible grief and her remains together with those of her only child” are buried at the rear of the church.

Close by are the five children of Mr & Mrs Gow, three of whom died in the same year

In the side border in front of the church is the war grave of Flight Sergeant H. I Sandison, Navigator (Bomber) twenty one, who died in a plane crash together with his fellow crew members in 1846. The church sacristy lamp is dedicated to their memory.

Services and opening times

Services & opening times

Sunday: 08.30am Eucharist (Said 1970 Scottish Liturgy)

10.30am Eucharist (Sung 1982 Scottish Liturgy)

4^th Sunday 10.30am Family Service (Sung 1982 Scottish Liturgy)

Thursday: 10.00am Eucharist (Said 1970 Scottish Liturgy)

The churchyard is always open to visitors

The church is also open to visitors on the first Saturday of each month (except January) between 9.00am and 1.00pm. A café offering light refreshments is available.

We will be happy to open the church at other times by appointment. Please contact the Rev’d Ruth Innes

Facilities for people with disabilities

The main body of the church is accessible via a ramp (1:8) at the Main Entrance. There is an accessible toilet on this level.

There is an induction loop servicing the nave & chancel.

Where to find us

287 Portobello High Street, Edinburgh,

EH15 2AR

By Bus: From the city centre Lothian Buses 15 & 26 & First Bus 129

Stained glass

The two pictorial stained glass windows to the East and West of the nave (1882) are by Ballantine & Sons and have their characteristic Renaissance borders. They depict the Good Samaritan and the unusual “the soul of Jonathan knit with the soul of David“

The stained glass over the altar was gifted in 1919 and depicts Christ crucified, flanked by Mary, the mother of Jesus and St John. It replaces an earlier stained glass window gifted in 1872 that was transferred to the back of the nave to make way for the new donation. It is believed that this earlier window was destroyed in the fire of 1967.

Our Building

St Marks was one of the first Episcopal churches to be built in the Edinburgh Diocese after the repressions of the Penal Laws that followed the Jacobite risings in the 18th century.

The church is set within a tree lined burial ground, enclosed by a boundary wall. The Vestry was granted the right to open a burial ground in 1828 after a long period of litigation instigated by the owner of a neighbouring villa.

The building has a category B listing and is of a villa like Neo Classical design, fronted with an imposing semi-circular Doric arched porch with flat topped dome which conceals a cupola lantern that lights the inner vestibule and stair to the gallery.

The original so called chapel was erected by Colonel & Mrs Robert Haliburton and Mr & Mrs James Rutherford at their own expense and constructed with remarkable speed by builder Robert Gray. The ground having been feued from the Marquis of Abercorn in 1825, it was opened on 19 May 1826 and consecrated on 21 August 1828 by Bishop Sandford.

The church was square in plan and “designed for the performance of Divine Worship in the Episcopalian form”. It comprised the present nave with balconies on three sides.

In 1892 the church was altered by Hay & Henderson. The two side galleries were removed, the ceiling reinforced and the chancel added to the south. The two windows to the north façade were also changed from sash and case windows to the Venetian style ones that can be seen today.

In 1919 a Lady Chapel was erected to the west of the chancel in memory of the 48 members of the congregation who fell in the Great War. It comprised an altar with a white marble slab on two black pillars. Over it was a tabernacle for the Reserved Sacrament, surmounted by a niche in which stood a crucifix. Behind it was a simple reredos of oak. The chapel was surrounded by an oak screen with eleven arches containing semi-circular panels carved by members of the congregation, one of which can be seen on the Crypt Chapel door.

The Lady Chapel was removed following a serious fire in 1967 which started in the boiler room and burned its way through the floor at the rear of the church, the heat reportedly melting the candles on the altar.

Other changes were also made at this time. In the chancel the altar was brought forward from the brown marble reredos (both 1872), the floor levelled and the altar rails relocated. The pulpit was also removed and replaced by two lecterns. In the basement a vestry and small stone-lined chapel were built, all largely the work of Alex & Ian Miller, members of the congregation.

In 1990 a meeting room, kitchen and accessible toilet were constructed under the gallery and a second meeting room formed in the basement. The architects being Campbell & Arnott.

In 2006 extensive repairs were done to the roof with the assistance of Historic Scotland and Heritage Lottery.

Welcome

Welcome to the new Blog, and temporary website, for St Mark's Portobello. Keep checking in for news of local, diocesan, provincial and global events which might interest you. Feel free to make comments especially on things you like and dislike about this Blog.