Last Sunday, Peter mentioned in the service the difficulties that Traidcraft plc, our supplier of Fairtrade goods, are having which may mean they have to cease trading at the end of this year after some 40 years. This would be a huge blow for those producers in developing nations who benefit from the Fairtrade partnerships which have been built with Traidcraft, but alas this particular problem is one that also reflects some wider issues for the UK's support of Fairtrade.

This Sunday, 7 October, our Harvest Thanksgiving service, we will have a letter available which can be signed if you wish. For more information on this important issue, please go to our dedicated Fairtrade page.

As part of our Harvest Thanksgiving celebration, please remember to bring gifts of food items (tinned or dried foods) which will be donated to Instant Neighbour.

The Ferryburn Fellowship youth group will be hosting a quiz night to raise funds for their participation in supporting the Sleep in the Park 2018 event. The young people are planning to sleep out at Duthie Park this year in order to raise money to help alleviate homelessness in Scotland. Last year £4m was raised and they hope to contribute to another large total this year.

South Holburn Church Hall
Friday 12 October 2018
7 p.m.

Tickets cost £5 per person.

Prize donations are welcome for a raffle.

Tea and coffee will be provided but you can bring your own bottle! Snacks also provided but feel free to also bring your own nibbles!

• Do you think your community should have more say in local decision making?
• How are decisions made in your local community and how do you think this could be done in a better way?

If you would like to take part in an informal discussion about how democracy works in your local area, you are warmly invited to a community consultation hosted by Ferryhill Parish Church and the Church of Scotland as part of the Scottish Government Democracy Matters consultation.

Thursday 4 October 2019, 7-9 p.m.
Ferryhill Parish Church
Fonthill Road, Aberdeen, AB11 6UD

Ideas shared at this event will be fed in to the Scotland wide consultation.

For more information, please download the Democracy Matters Conversation Booklet.

Our Lunch Club for the over 50s meets every Tuesday at 12.30pm during school term-time. Come and join us for a delicious hot lunch (£4 per person) and a chat in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere any Tuesday you fancy. Booking is not required.

We are always looking for helpers. If you can spare a few hours every month to assist please do get in touch. For further information on helping or coming along for lunch , please contact Cecilia Young on 01224 581382 or the Church Office on 01224 213093.

We look forward to seeing you there.

"Walking to Church, Ferryhill", an original painting by local artist Kathleen Bremner, was gifted to the church by the artist as a fundraiser and has recently helped us raise over £500!

Greetings cards of the picture are available at the coffee shop priced £2, but we are now offering 25x25cm unframed prints for just £15. Treat yourself, or consider birthdays or even Christmas! They are available most Sundays after the Church service, or please contact Ann Ralph to purchase a print.

Ferryhill Parish Church recognises the importance of protecting privacy and personal information, and has updated Privacy and Data Retention Policies which state how we use, disclose and protect such information according to law. These Policies are available by clicking this link, and any questions on the matter can be addressed to the Session Clerk by email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Trustees of Ferryhill Parish Church approved the Annual Report of 2017 at a meeting held on Sunday 18 March 2018. You can download a copy of the Annual Report here.

A few comments are worth clarifying as you read the Annual Report. The first is to thank everyone who participates in the work that goes on through the congregation at Ferryhill Kirk. The breadth of different activities and ministries going on to support the local community is wide and that is only made possible through the time and energy people give through the church and to the financial support offered. Donations by members of the church is by far the largest portion of our income. 

Secondly, you will see that in 2017 we had a small surplus at the end of the year. This is good news, of course, that we were not running a deficit, but one of the reasons for this is that we were not able to complete as many of the upkeep jobs as we might have wished over the course of the year. Part of the reason for this is that we are still striving to find someone or a few people to take on the responsibilities of Property Convener.

And thirdly, if you have a keen eye for the details, you may note on page 12 where there is a note of the movements of money in the various funds that one of the funds ends up with a negative balance. It highlighted for us at our Trustees meeting that these figures only record the cash held in our local bank accounts and not the proportions of these funds held in investments by the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. If you followed all that, well done!

A huge thank you to Val Hutton, our Treasurer, for all the work she and the Stewardship Team have put in to ensuring the finances of the church are well managed and to Lorna Glen, our Session Clerk, for the update in the first sections of the Annual Report on what has been going on in Ferryhill Kirk.

Rev Peter Johnston
Minister

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Over the next couple of months we will be encouraging us all on a Sunday morning to join with Rev Mary Whittaker during the Lord's Prayer to also sign the prayer. If you would like to practise that, please use the video above!

At the beginning of September we welcomed Rev Mary Whittaker to Ferryhill Parish Church. Mary has started a probationary placement jointly with us at Ferryhill Parish Church and also at St John’s Church for Deaf People.

Mary is already an Auxiliary Minister in the Kirk, but is now transitioning to the full time Ministry of Word and Sacrament. As part of that training Mary is undertaking this probationary placement. However, Mary comes with many years of experience in ministry already. She has been serving as locum at St John’s Church for Deaf People and leading worship in Elgin as part of a ministry amongst deaf people.

Mary is profoundly deaf herself and will be joined by her hearing dog, Scott. We will enjoy getting to know them both over the months to come, and learning a bit of British Sign Language in the process.

Say hello when you see them!