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Rededication Service
28th March
2010
Bishop David presided over
a service of rededication at St Mary’s church, Aberfoyle. St Mary’s was built for slate quarrymen in the 1890’s,
by renowned architect,James Miller and has had a faithful congregation since those days. A few years ago, after discovering
problems of wet rot, organ damage and subsidence, a major fundraising scheme was undertaken. Over £320,000 was raised
and the church has now been restored to its former glory. Guests from the local community, those involved in renovation
and members of the congregation joined in this service to celebrate the history and life of St Mary’s. The church was
rededicated, promising God’s holy presence for worship, His ear for prayer and His vision for our lives. In this place
we hear His holy word, commune with our risen Lord and are blessed. We remember that the building is a symbol of our faith
to the world and that from here we go out in mission and we invite all people in to experience God’s love.
Bring and Buy sales The monthly Bring and Buy sales have been a great success and have
raised over £400 to date. The money raised has been put towards the Church renovation fund.
The Bring and
Buy sales will be resumed in the Spring of 2010.
Thank you to all who have supported them so far.
Nov
2009
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The Church Renovation
Project
Work is now pretty
well completed, including the installation of the stained glass from the Fanshawe window, formally in the south transept, now
installed in the West window. This has very much enhanced the appearance of the Church and given much balance to
the interior, as well as exposing a lovely set of stained glass windows, previously hidden from view.
The Organ
is sounding magnificent, following complete overhaul and rebuilding by Paul Miller.
The Church has been recarpeted
and repainted.
We are very grateful to
the The Heritage Lottery Fund who awarded a funding package for the work on the main Church Renovation project.
Without their help, the renovation could not have been contemplated.
We are embarking on the
final works needed to bring the Church completely up to an 'as new' standard. Funded by a grant from the Awards
for All Lottery scheme, the work will include the restoration of the Crawford Memorial rail, a new sound system,
and some free standing chairs for greater flexiblity. Eventually we hope to install external floodlighting.
We are very very grateful to all those who have supported this project.
3rd April 2010
The Telemann ensemble - 27th March 2010
The Telemann ensemble
was founded by harpsichord player Leslie Macleod and flautist Neil Gillies in 1977 with the intention of performing works
by Georg Philipp Telemann and other neglected baroque composers as well as acclaimed masters such as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. Since then the
ensemble has performed throughout Scotland making regular appearances at the Burrell Collection, the Kibble Palace in Glasgow
and at the Millport Summer Music festival. The leader of the ensemble is Les Macleod is a member of the teaching
staff at Hutchesons' Grammar School. Born and brought up in Glasgow, Leslie attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music
where he studied with Alexa Maxwell and David Lumsden. He has performed as both continuo player and soloist with the Royal
Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Ensemble, Scaramuccia and the Scottish Early Music Consort. The group who played at St
Mary’s on 27th March consisted of Les, Cara Wilson (flute), Bob Cairns and Mark Duncan (violins), Janina
Duncan (viola) and Jessica Kerr (cello). Cara,
Mark and Janina and all members of St Mary’s and live locally. The ensemble have played at St Mary’s on several previous occasions and always have a good attendance
at their concerts. For this concert some 90 people came from far and wide to hear a wonderful programme.
This included pieces by Telemann, Vivaldi, Scarlatti and Handel. My own favourite was the virtuoso performance by the two violins and the ensemble of the Vivaldi Concerto in
A. Jessica gave a lively performance of the Vivaldi cello Concerto. She has her own
string quartet and asked about bringing them to St Mary’s later in the year. Perhaps this is the beginning of St Mary’s becoming an established music venue. Lets
hope so !
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Lyra Ensemble – 24th
March 2010.
The Lyra Ensemble, from St Petersburg, tour Britain each year
(sometimes twice a year). They are all trained singers and form a community
of professional musicians. Most of the members are students or postgraduates of Saint-Petersburg Conservatoire, working in
different choirs of Saint-Petersburg. Some are also soloists at musical theatres in the city. The LYRA choir community includes about 25 people. They tour
in small groups of soloists consisting of 5-6. In 2001 they were awarded the Montreux international choral festival diploma.
In 2005 the group was also a winner of Coleraine International Choral Festival (Northern Ireland).The group which came to St Mary’s on 24th March, consisted of Andreeva Natalia (soprano),
Zlata Gogol (mezzo) , Dmitry Darov (baritone), and Andrey Sysoev (tenor and leader). All their voices whether
singing solo or as a group were wonderful. Especially impressive were Dmitry, Zlata, and Natalia, who all
sang powerful individual pieces.Their repertoire is extensive.
The first half of the concert included sacred Russian music, by composers well known in Russia, but less well known
in Europe. The second half of the concerts, for which the group wear traditional costume, includes rousing and lively folk
music.The audience at St Mary’s came from far and wide, which
shows that there is an appetite for good music and that St Mary’s is well suited to host concerts of this type.
Lyra were received enthusiastically and we hope that they will come again on their next tour.
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| The Lyra ensemble from St Petersburg |
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| The Telemann ensemble |
Diocesan Review May 2008
Casting the Net May 08
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