Sun 15 Dec - worship update

Hi folks

A wee update: had the op. on Friday - which was successful - however there was an unexpected glitch which saw me stay in hospital until Monday evening instead of going home on the same day. Was told to 'take it easy' for the rest of the week. Given that, I've asked the Rev. George Shand to cover again, Sunday 15th onsite for the morning service. As per usual, just providing a couple of links to online services that you might like to visit:

Biggar Parish Church - LINK  
Dunfermline Abbey - LINK 
Hamilton Old Parish Church - LINK 

Sat 14 Dec., 2pm - 'Tidings of Comfort and Joy': The service on Sat. afternoon at 2pm in church, 'Tidings of Comfort and Joy' will be conducted by Dee and Heather - a quiet space in a busy season to remember loved ones no longer with us...

Sun 15 Dec., 7pm - Evening carols concert: the Leadhills Silver Band will be holding their annual carol concert in the village hall, Leadhills

Sun 22 Dec., 10.30am - 'Carol Praise service: we'll be holding a 'Carol Praise' service in the parish church on the fourth Sunday of Advent. Let us know your favourite carols, and we'll try to include them - and, if we don't manage to get them into the service on the 22nd, we'll see if we can include them in the service the following week [which will be a service of Lessons and Carols].

Concert: Caledonian Fiddle Orchestra

Fiddlers' Rally with the Caledonian Fiddle Orchestra

Upper Clyde  Parish Church present a fiddlers' rally with:

The Caledonian Fiddle Orchestra

We're delighted to welcome back the CFO, who'll be performing in:

Crawfordjohn Hall on Friday 11th May at 7.30pm  

Tickets £10 each. Contact Janet 01864 504265

A light supper is included in the cost of the ticket.
There'll also be a bar on the night.

For more information on the Orchestra please see callyfiddleorchestra.co.uk

Sunday worship 18 Dec: 'bingo', shepherds, baptism, and carols

A busy and fun Sunday! Here's a wee round-up:

Morning worship:
At our rather packed all-age, informal morning service we told the Christmas story
by playing a game of 'Christmas Bingo'.  We heard a reading from Matthew's Gospel that was
not unlike an episode of 'Who do you think you are', and discovered some surprising people
in the midst of the long list of names in Jesus' family tree.  In our other reading we
heard of angels visiting shepherds in Luke 2:8-20, and later, had an imagined reflection
from one of the shepherds about that night. He was rather surprised that angels would
trouble to visit folk such as him, given his own people looked down on the likes of shepherds;
maybe God's love was for everyone, not just those who thought they were 'respectable.'
We also had great fun welcoming young Innes into God's family through the sacrament of
baptism. And, we unfurled the last of our lovely Advent/Christmas banners, so beautifully made
by our craft group.

Community Carol singing, with Junction 13
From 1.30 - 5.15, folk from our community choir, 'Junction 13', managed to carol their way
around 5 of our 9 villages in the parish:
Abington, Crawfordjohn, Crawford, Leadhills, and Wanlockhead.
Huge thanks to our singers, for their tireless efforts - and particular thanks to the Foleys for organising us re. music and a spot of supper before evening worship.
Thanks, too, for the hospitality provided by Abington Store, Colebrooke Arms, and Hopetoun Arms and their much-welcome mince pies, choc. Yule log, lots of tea/coffee - which kept us all keeping on.
We managed to raise c.£160 for Cancer Research. Thanks for the kind donations! :)

and... evening worship: our Carol Service in Scotland's highest village
We finished the day with our annual Carol Service, in Scotland's highest village, Wanlockhead,
followed by some fab home baking. Thanks, as ever, to our friends from Leadhills Silver Band
[from Scotland's second highest village!] and to the fabulous Mary Hamilton, for providing the
music. And thanks too, to: Teresa Brasier, who put the service together, and to all the readers.
Below is a snippet of our final carol for the evening - apol's for the wobbly camera work on the
small Android phone!

Community Carolling

Church singing group: N.B. change of week

 

The Big (community) Gig - update

Junction 13 and St Silas' Community Choirs, with Leadhills Silver Band, after the finale

Wow.
Really.
Just...wow.
The Big (community) Gig exceeded all of the planning team's
expectations.  A great night, great music, good fun, and an excellent audience.
Within the programme for the evening, toes were tapped to the 'Rythm of Life',
we asked 'Can you feel the Love Tonight',
pondered the words of 'The Oracles' as Spartans prepared for battle.
There was also the drama of 'The Phantom of the Opera', as well as
Holst's 'Mars' and 'Jupiter' and some 'Swinging with the Mountain King'
in all their Silver Band glory...
Huge thanks to our performers and for what was an evening of super
and wide-ranging musical choices:
St Silas Community Choir, Glasgow
Leadhills Silver Band
and Junction 13 Community Choir, GANDL area.

Thanks, too, for the huge efforts undertaken by the Upper Clyde Parish Social Committee,
who fed and watered around 60 hungry singers and musicians over the course of
afternoon rehearsals and concert setting up. Hugely appreciated.

And, a concert is not a concert without an audience - and what a great show of
support from our local village communities. Well over 100 people turned up
to cheer everyone on.  Having managed to get full funding to hold the event,
we were able to raise £335 for Mary's Meals through a tombola and donations at the door.
That amount will help to provide a proper meal for 27 kids over the course of a year.
Brilliant result folks!
Beware, there's vague conversation already beginning about the possibilities of
having another of these gigs next year...

St Silas' and Junction 13 Community Choirs 'Let it Go'...

Junction 13

Leadhills Silver Band

The Big (Community) Gig - SATURDAY 3rd October!

IT'S NEARLY HERE...!

Don't miss it...

Junction 13: once more unto the breach, dear singers!!

We're back! 

Welcoming new friends and old from August 27, as we gear up for 

'The Big (community) Gig' in October - 

Come and get those endorphins going, let's all sing!

Community Choir news

Week One: here's a wee taster from our first evening... 

[apologies for those of you who suffer from motion sickness it's a wee bit wobbly!!]

Week Two: we overcame our 'identity crisis' and decided upon a name.  Meet:
Junction 13 [pop up choir]
Given Junction 13 connects all of our villages...!

[We also sang 'Let it go' from Frozen...but Shhh! Don't tell anyone :)

Some great fun and fabby singing so far.  If you've not come along, it's not too late.
7.30-9pm the next couple of Thursdays.

Community Choir: the time...has come!

The day has arrived!

UCPC is delighted to be opening up the church hall in Abington 

to host this new community venture. 

This is a community choir - everyone's welcome!

No choral experience or music reading ability necessary: 

just bring your enthusiasm and we'll do the rest!!

Meeting on Thursdays 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th May, from 7.30-9pm.

Our first two pieces of music can be found here [listen in here]  
and here [listen in here]

Plans shaping up for performances:
Sunday 31 May, 10:30 - for those who want, come and join UCPC for our 'Songs of Praise' service, featuring members of the Leadhills Silver Band.  A chance to try out public performance in a friendly space and build your confidence.
Thereafter...

June 20th - Leadhills Silver Band Concert - joining with the band as their guests.

and, after learning some new material throughout Thursdays in September...
Saturday 3 October, 7:30pm - Community Concert - featuring the Community Choir, Leadhills Silver Band, and some special guests from Glasgow... details tbc
Thereafter...

As we move into the Christmas season, some village carolling may be on the cards!

Community Choir: the hills [and the valleys] are alive...

'When you know the notes to sing...you can sing most anything!'
And who would argue with Dame Julie Andrews?!

As a response to post on a facebook page about community singing,
UCPC is very happy to host this - by inviting folk who'd like to get involved in some community singing to make use of our church hall as a practice space and to see if we might help try to get a Community Choir up and running.
While it's hosted by the parish church, you don't have to be a member of the church,
nor do you have to be a Julie Andrews vocal gymnast:
you just have to like singing.
The key here is to have fun, give our lungs a bit of an airing, and learn music from all sorts of places
[hmmm, did someone say 'let it go...'?].
And it's open to all ages.

Check out THIS PAGE for further details.
Hope to see you there.

Annual leave - contacts, information, church notices

The minister will be on leave from: 

Thurs 5 - Tues 17 Feb.  

Pulpit cover will be provided by the Rev Sandy Strachan.  Sandy has a wee connection with the parish - while training for ministry, he was supervised by our Session Clerk's husband, Bob.  By way of an odd kind of synchonicity, while a minister in Musselburgh many years back, Sandy supervised Nikki's supervisor.
Prior to retiring, Sandy worked for the NHS as a healthcare chaplain in Dumfries.

Funeral cover will be given by the Rev George Shand of the Tinto Parishes.  Let's hope nobody needs to get in touch with George, however, he can be contacted on 01899 309400.

For any ongoing parish queries, please contact our Session Clerk Moira White 

on 01659 74261

Guild News: the next meeting of the Guild will be held in the church hall on 11 Feb. at 2pm.  The speaker will be Rena White.

Ash Wednesday Service: 18 Feb, 7.30pm.  Join us, in the Parish Church, for a brief service to mark the beginning of the season of Lent.

'Wee Sing': Thursday 19 Feb, 7.30pm at the church.  Enjoy singing?  Like to learn the occasional new hymn before you meet it unexpectedly in worship?  Join us in the church hall for an informal gathering as together we sing and learn some of the upcoming hymns appearing over Lent, Holy Week, and Easter.  All are welcome.

Sun 22 Feb, 3pm: 'God goes to the movies'.  To tie in with our Lent groups, we'll be watching 'Casablanca' in the Church Hall.  Helpful for all attending our Lent groups, this is also open to anyone who'd just like to come along and watch the film.  Bring your popcorn, pull up a seat, and enjoy an afternoon with Rick and Ilsa at Rick's Cafe.

Lent discussion groups begin week commencing 23 Feb.  What has 'Casablanca' got to do with Lent?  Much more than you'd expect!  Come and find out more at our Lent discussion groups, running over the 5 weeks of Lent.
Two groups to choose from:
Tuesdays, 2pm in the manse, Crawford, or/
Thursdays, 7.30pm at the Hopetoun Arms, Leadhills.
We'll be using the book 'A Beautiful Friendship' to aid our discussions.  Book costs £5.99.
To order, sign up on the sheet up on the hall noticeboard at church.


World Day of Prayer Service: Friday 6 March, 2.30pm, in the church.

UCPC on Radio Scotland.  Don't forget to tune in (or listen on i-player) as we broadcast worship to the nation!  The programmes were recorded on Wed. 4 Feb, and will go out on:
Radio Scotland's 'New Every Morning' programme at 6.30am, on:
1, 8, 15, and 22 March.

Are you on Facebook?  So are we.  If you've not discovered our Facebook page yet,
you'll find us here.  Don't forget to click 'like' and to share the link with folk you know.

'Pop-up Community Choir': those who wish to sing, always find a song

Enjoy singing?

Like singing with others?

Want to learn songs old and new?

UCPC is in the process of setting up and trialling a 'pop-up community choir'.
We'll be hosting rehearsals in the parish church hall, Abington on:
Thursdays 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th May, from 7.30-9pm.

This is a community choir - all are welcome.

No choral experience or music reading ability necessary: 

just bring your enthusiasm and we'll do the rest!!

A friendly first outing in public - 
Our initial plan is to feature the choir at the parish 'Songs of Praise' service on Sunday 31 May 
where we'll also be joined by members of the Leadhills Silver Band.
The pieces we're looking at learning/ rehearsing are:
'Wade in the Water' and 'I'm Gonna Sing' - you can find them here at the BBC website

Thereafter, as we build up our repertoire, we hope to have the next public outing
as guests of the Leadhills Silver Band, at their concert in June - date tbc.

And, plans are already shaping up for an evening of music and singing [at a larger community hall in one of the villages, tbc] later in the year, probably early October. We're hoping to be joined by another community choir, and have a few handy musicians around as well for some good craic.

[Looking even further ahead, we might even think about some village carolling around Christmas, but as this is being posted in January, let's not think about that right this moment!]

If you'd like to find out more, or sign up, please contact
Nikki Macdonald - minister.upperclyde[at]gmail.com
or
Teresa Brasier - teresabrasier[at]hotmail.com

Or you can leave a comment in the box at the bottom of this post and we can respond to your query there.

“Then the singing enveloped me.

It was furry and resonant,

coming from everyone's very heart.

There was no sense of performance or judgment,

only that the music was breath and food.”

Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies