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The Church magazine through the years
The first magazine produced locally was issued on the first Sunday of May 1962. A magazine was set up in January 1957 with the Rev Dr James Richmond and Miss Margaret Milne as joint editors. The material was typed but was then sent to Craig, the Printers, in Airdrie. This format continued until early 1961. During the vacancy which followed Dr Richmond's departure the magazine was in abeyance.
In April 1962 the church purchased a Roneo 750 ink duplicator. This machine was electrically operated and could copy at the rate of one hundred copies a minute. However, before the duplicator did its work stencils had to be prepared and these were then put around the drum of the machine. How many nowadays know how to make a stencil or indeed have ever heard of such a thing. Let me explain. A stencil comprised of a sheet of light-weight card, a sheet of carbon paper facing upwards and the master which was made of a waxy substance in which holes were made by typing on it after the ribbon of the typewriter had been disengaged. Corrections were made by painting over the error with red correcting fluid, letting it dry and then typing the letter or letters again. As you can imagine handling the stencils could be a very messy job because of the ink on the drum clinging to the master.
Initially the magazine was in Pica (10 letters to an inch) type and then changed to elite (12 letters to an inch) type and occasionally a typewriter belonging to a colleague which could do petit roman (16 letters to an inch) if we were running short of space. In the early days the content of the magazine was more or less controlled by the minister, the Rev Thomas Swanston. No contributions were ever asked for and it was difficult to get space to report about the Parent's Evenings of the organisations.
Around 1963 Bible Reading Notes were introduced. These could be anything from 24 to 32 pages in length. On occasion notes were borrowed from the minister's friends, the Rev W Still of Gilcomston South, Aberdeen, the Rev James Philip of Holyrood Abbey Church, Edinburgh and Rev George Philip of Sandyford Henderson Church, Glasgow. The varying styles of the writers was interesting and reflected their styles of preaching.
From 1962 to 1973 the magazine and later also the Bible Reading Notes were produced in the Manse study. Among those involved were Rena McCartney (now Burnett), Isa Hinshelwood, Betty Jenkins, Ann Baillie, Ann Malcolm, Margaret Anderson, Elizabeth Hunter and Caroline McGrane. After the work was completed we sometimes had coffee in the lounge, particularly when Mrs Swanston was visiting. On one occasion Mr Swanston who was an excellent cook and baker had put an egg sponge into the oven. His mother could smell something and decided to investigate. She opened the oven door and as a result the sponge fell flat much to the minister's annoyance. He told the magazine team all about it but his mother would not be put off relating the sad tale again and proceeded to give a blow by blow account with the words, "They haven't heard my side of the story."
In 1965, Mrs Cassels, grandmother of Margaret Anderson gave us a typewriter which was shared between the minister and the magazine. Eventually it was only used for the magazine. In 1991 I bought an electronic typewriter and in 1995 a word processor (this particular type of machine is no longer manufactured.) Finally at the end of 2006 I bought a lap top computer. I did have a few hiccups with it but can now just about manage all I need to do but I don't claim to be an expert.
When the Rev Thomas Swanston left for Inverness in September 1971 a number of the Kirk Session wished the magazine to continue and it was at this point that I became the editor although that was never actually shown on the magazine itself. It was believed and I believe rightly that the magazine would keep the congregation informed of what was happening during the vacancy. Our Interim Moderator, the Rev Ronald Blakey wrote a pastoral letter month by month. However in 1972 we no longer had a magazine in July and August. When Rev R Blakey went to Jedburgh, the Rev Peter Dawes wrote the letter until the vacancy was filled in February 1973.
The production team continued for a while during the Rev John Linkens' ministry. The duplicating machine was relocated in the vestry. On one memorable occasion we all stopped in our tracks when the door of the wardrobe containing the minister's preaching robes suddenly opened up. Believe me, it was spooky on a dark night with the wind howling round about. (The men who were auditing the church accounts had a similar experience but it was only the men who were taken aback.) The Rev John Linkens always wrote a message (he never called his contribution a letter) as well as any other items which were to be included. For a while Timothy Linkens helped with the production and always insisted that his dad received the very first copy.
Immediately after the Rev John Linkens left the Rev James Salrnond came as a locum. For a while we had two letters, one from the Rev James Salmond and one from the Interim Moderator, Rev James Martin. It was important from September 1978 to October 1979 to keep the congregation up to date with what was going on and the magazine played its part in this. (continued...)
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