Love your local church – Cherished memories of a family church
Maj Jamie Erskine MBE
Jan 2025
In the latest in our series of “Love your Local Church” blogs Major Jamie Erskine MBE, our longest-serving trustee and former chairperson of our trust, reflects upon the sad closure of his local church and what this beloved historic building and the close connection to the community who worshipped there has meant to him and his family.
I know some families have been going to the same church for decades, even centuries and have become very attached to them. I certainly viewed the church where my family worshipped for over 55 years as ‘the family church’. What does that mean? It will mean different things to different people. I am certain the emotional family ties with a church are strong and formed, not just by the many hours spent worshipping and having time for reflection, but also by other memories of it; and the effect it has on one’s whole life, including the bonds and friendships formed with others in the community.
For my part I remember so well going to Cleish Parish Church aged three and sitting in the front pew for the first part of the service before going out to Sunday School where we were taught by the lady who, during the week, was the village postmistress. It was at Sunday School we learnt about the bible, sang the hymn “Jesus Tender Shepherd Hear Me” which had been written by Mary Lundie Duncan around 1837 when she was the wife of the minister at Cleish church, and put one penny into the collection singing “Hear the Pennies Dropping” as we did so.
I remember the joys of Christmas Eve when we had a most lovely midnight service for which a choir, often conducted by our father, came together in the autumn and practised for the service, and Easter, Harvest Thanksgiving, the sombre Remembrance Sundays and of course the more routine services which always had something to think about afterwards.
They all played a hugely important part in my formative years.
As I grew older, I remember coming back from school for the holidays and enjoying Sunday services and, even later, bringing friends home for the weekend with my parents and taking them to the ‘Family Church’ on a Sunday. How proud I was to show it off to them and how polite they were about the church at the end of the service. Indeed, recently, I went to a memorial service of a friend in the church and an old friend from the south of England, came up and told me how much she had enjoyed worshiping there with us when she regularly stayed with us some 45 years ago.
Our family life was so intertwined with the church. Two of my sisters, my two sons and a number of their cousins, were christened there, my four sisters and two nieces were married there, and the memorial services of our parents, who were buried in the cemetery behind the church, took place there.
Our father was the Session Clerk for a period, our mother was an enthusiastic member of the Guild and was on the roster to do the church flowers, often beautifully arranged atop a carved wooden pillar refashioned from a post from my great grandfather’s bed! I also well remember helping the minister’s wife plant bulbs in the manse garden before I reached school age. I was only too aware when ministers left and of the process that had to be followed to find a replacement, and when there were perhaps differences of opinions within the church community.
The church played a huge part of our family life but also in the life of the family of the community and that was so important in creating a tremendous esprit de corps within the parish of Cleish.
A carved wooden flower stand, refashioned from one of the posts from Jamie’s great grandfather’s bed!
So, it was with a great degree of sadness that we heard the decision had been taken to close the church at the end of 2024 as part of the local presbytery’s plans to reduce the number of buildings in its care. On 29 December 2024, there was a service of Thanksgiving for the life and work of Cleish Parish Church to mark the final formal service in the church before it closed.
With several members of my family, I went to the service with other families who had worshipped there for as long as we had or, in some cases, for much longer. There was a large congregation and the service was very well put together. It included reminiscences from various people about the flowers in the kirk, the choirs that used to come together and sing there, the Guild and the people of the village. It really brought home how a local church works for the benefit of the parish family. We were also reminded why the closure came about but also that there was a determination within the community to look after the building and use it for the benefit of the community.
Our enormous thanks to Jamie for sharing this thoughtful reflection on what Cleish Parish Church means to him and his family. Please get in touch if you would like to share a similar piece about your local church building. If your local church is closing and your community is considering taking it on as a community asset, check out “Your Church, Your Community“, the latest advice from the Development Trust Association Scotland, Historic Churches Scotland and the Heritage Trust Network.