Posted Sunday 20 January 2008
Exactly 120 years of unbroken service in the town and diocese was brought to an end on Sunday 20 January when the Dean, the Very Rev Dr Gregor Duncan, celebrated the final Eucharist at St Columba’s, Clydebank, writes Graeme Hely, Lay Representative for All Saints, Jordanhill.
The first priest in charge at Clydebank was Rev Malcom McColl, who held the first Evensong of a new mission on Whitsunday 1888. The church of St. Columba was begun in 1895, the first service being held there on 8 December of that year. The church was formally dedicated on 27 June 1896. Mission work was started from St Columba’s across the Clyde in Renfrew, where in 1900 St Margaret’s Mission was founded.
On 18 November 1917 the charge became an incumbency and the church was consecrated.
During the last half of the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th, Clydebank was at the heart of Scotland’s industrial revolution and Clyde-built ships could be found in every port in the world. During these years the church and the congregation grew and flourished.
However, the devastation of the town by the Clydebank blitz in March 1941 and the subsequent post-war development led to the scattering of the congregation and the increasing isolation of the church building. Although the congregation struggled on for many years, their church remained on the periphery of Clydebank life and in 1996 it was decided to close the original building.
For the next 12 years the small but faithful congregation continued to worship in the Rectory, a fine sandstone building which had served as the incumbent’s residence for over 70 years - first with Rev Robert Haslam who oversaw the move, then with Rev Darren McFarland and for the last six years with the Rev Allan Gray Boyd. Unfortunately, with a dwindling and aged congregation the decision finally had to be taken to close the charge.
To end this very sad occasion on an optimistic note, as the Dean remarked in his address, the congregation will be welcomed into other local Episcopalian churches, where they will be able to carry on the dedicated service that they have demonstrated so magnificently for so many years.
Category: General
