18 April 2026 – From My Diary 1996

I was in touch with M, a retired minister who lived in Dunblane. He agreed to conduct morning worship at Logie when I was on holiday. He told me about some work he was doing at Scottish Churches House following the tragedy in Dunblane.

The bereaved parents and the parents of injured children meet together on separate nights. They help each other to heal. Interestingly, he said, the bereaved families are doing better. In a sense their situation is more certain. They know what they are dealing with.

He expressed concern about the large sums of money pouring into the town. ‘This is not a Garthamlock!’ he said. ‘And some people don’t want the town to become a leisure centre for Central Scotland.’ He  thought that some money could be given to injured children in Cambodia suffering as a consequence of exploding landmines.

I had a medical with the Kirk’s physician. His consulting room had been created out of a walk-in cloakroom in the hall of his stone-built villa. It was small. No expense had been spent on the fittings. The height measurements were marked on the door post in red pen and the scales were aged.

But, the doctor was excellent – patient, courteous, efficient. He asked many questions about work and listened attentively. He commented on the satisfactory report and mentioned his recipe for good health – exercising three times a week for twenty minutes, doubling the heart beat as you go!

When I arrived at Logie in 1990, an elder gave me a handsome  Logie Kirk plate as a gift. I later learned that it was her own plate which she sacrificed for me. At the Spring Fayre, someone handed in another to sell at  the sale. The elder bought it and said to me, ‘What you give away, you certainly get back again!’