nov 08b

For the tots

November has been associated with poppies for a very long time. Wearing a poppy is a way of saying "thank you" to those who gave their lives for our freedom. Why is the emblem a poppy? In the north of Europe many poppies grow in the fields. Many in the army would have seen them and this was believed to be the best way to remind us of all who help to preserve all that is good in the world.

For the teens

Do you know that during the Second World War Holytown became home to some young people from Coventry, Clydebank and someone from far off Guernsey. This poem tries to give an idea of what it was like to readjust to their former home.

The evacuee

She woke up under a loose quilt
of leaf patterns, woven by the light
At the small window, busy with the boughs
of a young cherry; but wearily she lay,
Waiting for the siren, slow to trust
nature's deceptive peace, and then afraid

Of the long silence, she would have crept
Uneasily from the bedroom with its frieze
Of fresh sunlight, had not a cock crowed,
Shattering the surface of that limpid pool
O stillness, and before the ripples died
One by one in the field's shallows;
The farm woke with uninhibited din.

And now the noise and not the silence drew her
Down the bare stairs at great speed.
The sounds and voices were a rough sheet
Waiting to catch her, as though she leaped
From a scorched storey of the charred past.

And there the table and the gallery
Of farm faces trying to be kind
Beckoned her nearer, and she sat down
Under an awning of salt hams.

And so she grew, a small bird in the nest
Of welcome that was built about her,
Home now after so long away
In the flowerless streets of the drab town.
The men watched her busy with the hens,
The soft flesh ripening warm as corn
On the sticks of limbs, the grey eyes clear,
Rinsed with dew of their long dread.
The men watched her, and, nodding, smiled
Qith earth's charity, patient and strong.

R S Thomas

(Limpid = clear; siren - to mark beginning or end of an air-raid)

The Girls' Brigade

The Girls' Brigade had a very busy weekend at the end of October. Companies from all over Scotland gathered in Balerno, Midlothian for two National Competitions. Nicole Harrison and Lauren Nicol from the Junior 1 Section took part in the Somerville Competition and Julia McKendrick, Amy McGhee and Pamela Boyd participated in the National Brigader Competition. The Somerville Competition consisted of different aspects of "Highland Games" and part of the Brigader Competition involved "Potted Sports". Although our teams were not placed the results were very close and everyone had a great day. In the evening the Juniors and Brigaders had a sponsored sleepover in our Church Hall which was a great night of fun and games for the officers as well as the girls.

On Sunday morning we had our Re-dedication Service with the Boys' Brigade and the whole company were involved in various parts of the worship, which included Harvest Thanksgiving.

The officers would like to thank the girls and their parents for giving of their time over this weekend and to the many relatives and friends who joined us for our special service.

Thank you,
Marlene Milton, Captain