Dear Friends, When most of us were children, Father’s Day was not celebrated in the UK, and I can remember my father saying in the early 1970s that it was an American commercial invention, just another way to part people from their cash...
Read More14 June 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, Leonardo da Vinci had started work on a large canvas in his study. For a while he worked at it – choosing the subject, planning the perspective, sketching the outline, applying the colours with his own inimitable genius. Then...
Read More7 June 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, As you will be aware, the congregation that is made up of Boarhills, Dunino and St Andrews: Holy Trinity is a very busy one. As well as our regular acts of worship, and the weddings and funerals that take place, and concerts and...
Read More31 May 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, As Thursday approaches, there are many challenges that have to be met in Boarhills, Dunino and St Andrews Holy Trinity each week. Because we send out our services in print to all parts of the world, (quite literally) and because all...
Read More17 May 2026: Letter fom the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, We are delighted to welcome Rev. Dr. James Walker to our pulpit today. We are also delighted to welcome our friends from Dunino to Holy Trinity. We are all one church family and it is good for us to worship together. Today is also...
Read More10 May 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, Many years ago, I attended a service in a very prestigious church where a famous minister was officiating. I now cannot remember all the details, but I do remember feeling that God had been slighted and the congregation not involved...
Read MoreSunday 3 May 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, This morning, I found myself taking a funeral service for a friend in the church where I was ordained and where I served as minister for many years. Although it was a sad occasion, it was also a happy celebration as my friend had...
Read More26 April 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, Today in Holy Trinity we welcome the ‘Friends of Holy Trinity’ who will have their AGM in the Sharp Aisle after worship. The ‘Friends’ were set up by Tom Duncan and Rev Roy Hill to support the musical tradition of Holy Trinity and...
Read More19 April 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, John was an old man by the time I first knew him. He was the organist in my first church which only had a rather unreliable keyboard. He was in his late 80s and was very quiet, rushing off at the end of the service to play at...
Read More12 April 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, This morning when I switched on my radio, I found myself listening to something called ‘A Symphony of Easter’. I had never heard of such a thing before, but as it was beautiful baroque music I continued to listen. I noted that it...
Read More29 March 2026 – Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, Last week I was very privileged to accompany a member of staff from St Leonard’s School to the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh. You may remember how, at Christmas, we collected for the Lochranza Ward there...
Read More22 March 2026: Letter from the Locum Minister, Rev Marion Paton
Dear Friends, Almost forty years ago, when I was a student for the ministry, I worked with a wonderful minister who used to say ’Why use your own brain when you can use one that belongs to someone else?’ In saying this, he was encouraging me to...
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