PILGRIMAGE GATHERING & AGM
1st October 2021
Last Friday 1st October, SPRF held this year's Pilgrimage Gathering at St Margaret of Scotland Church, Gallowgate in the heart of Aberdeen - our first live meeting for 2 years, also shared virtually with Forum members. Our morning walk visited the historic but now closed St Nicholas Kirk and St Andrew's Cathedral buildings nearby - see photos. This reinforced our three afternoon talks on re-purposing redundant churches on pilgrim routes, led by Victoria Collison of the Historic Churches Scotland Trust and supported by case studies from Argyll and Perthshire presented by Dinah McDonald of Historic Kilmun and Rev Gennie Evans from the Strathearn Episcopal Churches. We are indebted to all of them and to Canon Emsley Nimmo and his team at St Margaret's and to Rev Isaac Poobalan for all their help in making our programme for the day so relevant and interesting.
You can also follow video footage of the talks via the Facebook links on this page posted by St Andrew's Cathedral.
Our next national Forum meeting will be on Friday 29th April 2022 - venue to be decided!
FORTH TO FARNE WAY ACCREDITATION
September 6th, 2021
The Forth to Farne Way received public accreditation from SPRF at an outdoor event hosted by Coldingham Priory Kirk in the Scottish Borders. This marks a key point in the revival and development of this beautiful 72 mile coastal walking route linking the historic pilgrimage centres of North Berwick and Lindisfarne - an outdoor public resource open for all to use and enjoy.
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Very Rev Dr Sheilagh Kesting, SPRF Chair, presented James Wyllie, chair of the local volunteer Steering Group, a certificate to confirm that the Forth to Farne Way route has achieved Silver level accreditation as a Scottish Pilgrim Way following a recent assessment. This is the first such pilgrim route to receive accreditation anywhere in Scotland. Our congratulations to all the Steering Group members and other partners in getting this project to where it is today.
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Despite damp conditions at times, the weather allowed us to enjoy a commemorative walk starting and ending at Coldingham Priory Kirk covering a 4-mile section of the fully waymarked route via the historic fishing village of St Abbs.
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A new illustrated FTFW guidebook with maps is available for £12.99 via https://www.rucsacs.com/books/ or at a discounted price of £10.00+p&p to SPRF members by email to info@sprf.org.uk
THE COLUMBA EXPERIENCE
September 1st, 2021
An adventurous journey up through beautiful Seil and to the Cathedral of the Trees near Oban. Sore feet were starting to tell, but together we can go far.
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Great to share the Columba Experience long-distance pilgrimage walk following the route of the Dalriada Way up the stunning west coast of Argyll from Tarbert in Kintyre north to the island of Lismore via Oban. It's a unique initiative with young adults (18 - 25) run by youth workers from the Church of Scotland. We look forward to hearing more!