4 June 2026 -  From My Diary 1996

The bride was nervous at the wedding rehearsal. The young couple had much on their plate. I had agreed to a video being taken because the groom’s mother was seriously ill in hospital. For whatever reason, she had been unable to attend his brother’s wedding.

Unfortunately, the wedding clashed with the Scotland versus England game in the Euros 96. The time of the wedding had been scheduled to accommodate this. The reception was at  ‘The Sword Hotel’. The guests spent the time between service and meal watching the game. The meal was delayed. Scotland defeated 2-0!

One of the homeless men living rough near the kirk stopped by and asked for a lift. He was in a dilemma. He had to appear in court at the same time as being admitted to hospital. As it happened, he missed both the court appearance and the hospital appointment. His lawyer wrote to me.  I searched for him, he had gone!

Our younger daughter was sick. Mary-Catherine was working in Edinburgh and so I stayed at home and fulfilled my parental duty. I was unable to attend the first Coffee Morning which attracted a lot of goodwill – thirty-seven people sat down at table and an older elder brought along his birthday cake and shared it out!

Sarah  loved my hot fruit juices with a straw and my runny custard.  Two days later, I was up through the night six times with the sickness which Sarah brought home from school. I was unable to work the next day! This time Mary-Catherine looked after me! Community is all about giving and receiving!

At the ‘All Age Worship’, a very young child snatched one of my posters which I had brought along to illustrate a point I was making in the children’s address. There was no way I could retrieve it gracefully. In the end, I picked up the child in my arms so that everyone could see the poster  and continued the address with determination!