Scottish Churches Rural Group

The date of the next meeting of SCRG is Thursday 9 February 2012 at Inglewood House, Alloa FK10 2HU. Members should gather from 10am (coffee/tea) and the meeting aims to begin when all are gathered or at the latest by 10.30am. Lunch is at 12.30pm and the meeting aims to end by 3.00pm. This Meeting will welcome Bill Harvey as the new Convener taking over the reins, expertly held for many years by David Atkinson.

Looking over the past year the SCRG has been engaged in many initiatives and events, as well as Consultations on matters relating to rural matters.

Rural Conference

A very successful Rural Conference was held on 30th August at Falkland Estate. The day's programme coordinated by Convener David Atkinson attracted 33 delegates attending from all over Scotland (and a couple of people from England and Wales!) The Opening Address about the issues facing churches in rural Scotland was extremely interesting. Speaker Rt Rev Mark Strange gave an honest and comprehensive account of the difference between what people perceive life to be like in Rural Scotland, and what it is really like, and how very often people's expectations of life when they move to a rural area are not always realised, and his often difficult and demanding role as Bishop of a large rural landscape. Neil Anderson, Transitional Steward from Falkland Centre for Stewardship spoke about the work of Community Development at Falkland Estate and this was followed by an account of the success of Community Development on South Uist from Deacon Martin Matheson of Storal Uibhist who presented something different. Both accounts were interesting and informative and were very much appreciated by conference participants. In the afternoon session, Rev Lorna Murray from 'Choose Life' spoke about the high incidences of suicide in rural areas and of her work with 'Choose Life' and also with'Breathing Space' (watch out for her article in the next edition of ACTS Newsletter which come out at the end of November). Then participants heard from Pete Ritchie of Whitmuir Organics and his work to offer food fairly produced for communities and the environment. They were both engaging and extremely interesting. The day's reflections were beautifully captured by Dr Elaine Cameron and Bill Harvey as the day ended, everyone leaving with more knowledge than they had before and having enjoyed an exceptionally good conference.

Pilgrimage Routes

Following on from the success of the two events earlier this year which brought the concept of pilgrimage routes throughout Scotland, Church Leaders gathered at this years Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh and signed a Declaration of Intent (now available to view on this website) Pilgrimage Working Group Convener, Nick Cooke and Network Officer, Shona Paterson have been part of a Long Distance Routes Forum run by Scottish Natural Heritage as part of this work. The next stage will be to set up a Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum, a move which will include those from Scotland's Churches Scheme and will work to deliver the idea in practical terms.