Restoration Complete
The restoration of the interior of the Church is now complete. It has taken much longer than anticipated, having been started in 1996 and finished just in time for Christmas 2004, and has cost some £275000, much more than we originally budgeted for. We are, however, very pleased with the result.
A re-dedication service took place on Sunday 22nd May 2005. Over 100 friends from all over Cowal, and some from overseas attended the service, conducted by our retired minister Rev David Kellas, followed by a Champagne buffet. A computer generated presentation of the works on both the exterior and the interior was projected during the gathering and aroused much interest. If any of you would like copies of any of the pictures of the work or a copy of the Powerpoint presentation on CD please follow the email link below.
Where Now?
As most of you know we have, in Kilfinan, one of the best collections of ancient burial stones in the West of Scotland. We plan to have these restored and properly mounted on the lower and lighting installed so that they can be viewed from the gallery. Display boards explaining the history of each stone and the church will be mounted on the walls of the gallery
Preliminary costings for this work indicate that it will cost around £164.000. You will appreciate that the work completed to date has fully stretched the resources of such a small community so we will have to look for funding from outside. If any of you know of any organisations we might approach please contact us at one of the addresses below?
To view a sketch of the new proposal click here.
We could not have got this far without the help of visitors to this web site and for that we are extremely grateful.
Friends of Kilfinan Parish Church
Secretary: Margaret Sutherland, Drum Cottage, Kilfinan, Argyll, PA21 2ER
Telephone: 01700 821207 E-mail: suthmargt@aol.com
Webmaster: Sinclair Sutherland.
E-mail: drmcttg@aol.com.
Church of Scotland, Kilfinan Parish Church
Services are held every Sunday at 12.00 noon.
Minister: Rev David Mitchell, West Cowal Manse, Kames, Tighnabruaich, Argyll, PA21 2AD
Telephone: 01700 811045 E-mail: revdmitchell@yahoo.co.uk
Kilfinan Parish Church News Letter
Last updated: 24th April 2008
Membership News
As most of you are aware the Friends of Kilfinan have been running a website for several years now and I thought it would be nice to inform you of its progress.
We are receiving on average two hits a day, some of which bring in money while others are from people trying to research their ancestry.
As forecast in the last update we were visited by the Clan Ewen in June and the Clan Lamont in September. Both gatherings were well attended and it was great to meet up with old friends.
Database
The database of the stones in the Churchyard is now complete. It records the location, inscription and a description of each stone.
All of the information is now on the Catalogue page of this site. Recording of the lower part of the churchyard and the stones in the Rankin plot is now complete and has been added to this site. We hope that this will be of help to those of you who want to trace ancestors.
New Minister
Many of you will know that when David Kellas retired we entered into an extended link with Kilmodan and Colintraive. The new Charge is called West Cowal and has four fully active churches, two of which are in union and linked with the other two.
The new minister has been inplace for nearly a year now. He is the Reverend David Mitchell BD, Dip.P Theo., MSc., PG Cert T&L HE. David left a post as Lecturer in Palliative Care at the Marie Curie Hospice, Glasgow to be our full time minister. He has experience as a parish minister gained through conducting pulpit supply as a locum and an interim moderator. He has also been an active member of the Presbytery of Glasgow.
David’s induction to the Charge of West Cowal took place at Kyles Church on Saturday 16th September 2006. He will be conducting worship on alternate Sundays at either Kilmodan and Colintraive or Kyles and Kilfinan .
We look forward to a long and fruitful ministry in West Cowal.
