5 April  2026 – From my Diary 1996

On Easter Day, we had two services at Logie Kirk. Around forty people attended a celebration of the Sacrament at 10am and we had a packed church for  the family service at 11-30am. There were two baptisms and we were visited by the Logie Lambs.

During the service we lit the Paschal Candle. This year, we took the flame from the little candle which we lit on Mothering Sunday to remember the victims who suffered as a consequence of the tragedy at Dunblane. The candle of suffering lit the candle of hope.

The family  decorated Easter eggs and rolled them at the University campus. We had lots of salt for the eggs, enjoyed the ducks in Airthrey Loch and the rabbits on the embankment. Colin fell into the water and found the skull of a rat or a duck or …? Lots of laughter and life! By the end of the day, I had three funerals to attend to.

A, who was one of the first people to have a successful heart transplant, was off to Papworth for his seventh MOT.  He talked about prayer. ‘I ask God for a lot of things.’ he said. ‘Not all my prayers are answered but I get a pretty good average.’

Walking into Stirling with the children, I met two people who had been homeless until we got accommodation in the homeless unit in Viewfield Place. They were sitting in the underpass begging. ‘When H. saw the children, she asked, ‘Are these your babies?’ I introduced them. ‘They’re beautiful.’ she replied.

She and her partner  had left their accommodation  because of ‘the noise and drugs’. They had returned to the green hut at the cemetery. Why? ‘I imagine it provides them with independence, privacy and freedom.’ I wrote adding, ‘We have travelled full circle.’ It was from there that we had secured accommodation! ‘Now what?’

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