SPRF Spring Meeting, Friday 26th April at The Grace Church, Bothwell, South Lanarkshire

A good time was had by all at the recent Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum meeting held at the Grace Gospel Church at Bothwell on Friday 26th April. Talks and briefings given by delegates included subjects such as the PILLAR survey on pilgrim accommodation, the recent upgrade of the SPRF website, and updates from routes around the SPRF network. The event concluded with a guided tour of nearby Bothwell Parish Church led by Ian McKellar of the Bothwell History and Heritage Society. As part of the spring gathering, a number of attendees took the opportunity to visit the historic Bothwell Parish Church, past which the Kentigern Way runs on its way to Glasgow. Photos by Julie Christie and the Very Rev. Dr Martin Fair.

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John Henderson Award 2024

Now that the Award is in its third year, we are keen to receive nominations of individuals known to members who have played a significant voluntary role in developing a Scottish pilgrim route. The winner is announced at the autumn Pilgrimage Gathering and receives a £200 prize and also holds the fine Award trophy for the coming year. Nomination forms are available from the SPRF Secretary. Bill Jack and David McNeish have set the bar high as previous winners, but we know there are many other unsung heroes out there!  

 

‘Pilger Messe 2024’ in Hamburg

Last month, SPRF Secretary Nick Cooke revisited the historic St Jacobi Hauptkirche in Hamburg accompanied by Duncan Weaver, Fife Pilgrim Way Pastor, for this year’s ‘Pilger Messe’ weekend symposium. This is now a well-recognised  ‘trade fair’ networking event for some 40 pilgrim route organisations across Germany and Scandinavia, many closely associated with the Lutheran Churches through the work of local part-time pilgrim pastors.

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Rucksack Readers walking guides

Rucksack Readers will be selling walking guides to five Scottish pilgrim routes, with their new Fife Pilgrim Way guide - co-authored by Jacquetta McGarry and Duncan Weaver – joining the existing St Magnus Way, Forth to Farne Way, St Cuthbert’s Way and Borders Abbeys Way guides in this series.  The SPRF website includes a new online ordering facility for these titles, and all sales generated through this link will benefit SPRF financially. 

 

Sli Colmcille walk

Sarah Akehurst, one of our members living on Mull, has been planning this long-distance walk for some time, and this year intends to do it! Starting in county Donegal in Ireland and crossing by ferry to Kintyre and up though the Argyll coast and across Mull to finish at Iona Abbey, the Sli Cholmcille (or Way of St Columba) is arguably the most authentic of the various pilgrim routes named after this iconic saint - see https://www.colmcille.org/en/

 

‘Re-Rooting: Pilgrimage, Community & Creation' video

Those of us who attended the Pilgrimage Gathering on Orkney will remember the visually powerful 4 minute trailer of this video introduced by Joel Chaney and produced by his colleague Tze-Hung Seeto, with contributions from several SPRF members. Joel and Tze have now launched a new online crowdfunder page to secure the funding to complete a full-length video production. Go to https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/re-rooting for more information on how you can support this.   

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The future of Scotland’s church buildings

Scotland’s Churches Trust has recently posted an online blog on the current status of the Church of Scotland’s plans to potentially close a significant number of parish churches. You can read the SCT article and accompanying interactive map at https://www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/blog/scotlands-closing-churches/

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Confraternity of St James – Scotland

Last year, SPRF entered into a reciprocal corporate membership arrangement with CSJ (as it already has with SCT) since we share a common interest in sustaining the engagement of individual Camino pilgrims in Scotland in the development of our own pilgrimage walking routes here. For more information on CSJ, see https://www.csj.org.uk/