Juniper Green Church Guild of Friendship AGM
left: Jen Laver, Muriel Baillie and Peggy Turnbull attending the Guild AGM in April 2007
right:Jean Stewart talking to Edith Boyle, With other Guild members Wilma Manson, Jean Brown and Cecilia Lawrie at the Guild AGM
The Guild story has records back to 1936 and secretary to the Guild, Jean Stewart, is hoping to look over these papers with Elaine Wilson over the summer.
The meeting has a time for praise with songs and a reading from one of the members.
left: Jean Stewart talking to Edith Boyle, With other Guild members Wilma Manson, Jean Brown and Cecilia Lawrie at the Guild AGM
right: Cliff Beevers giving his talk on Juniper Green 300
Thank you for inviting me along today to your AGM to talk about Juniper Green 300. What I would also like to do is capture the history of the Juniper Green Parish Church Guild.
Three Guild members Peggy Fisher, Edith Emerson and Mary Simpson at the Guild AGM in 2007
A few statistics: almost 400 images, 200 web pages, over 3600 hits on the JG300 website, so since the site went live someone has been on our Home page every 24 minutes, day or night. Literally, day and night as folk across the globe are logging in: many in the US, at least one in Canada, my daughter in France, several Australians, at least one in New Zealand, another in Thailand and many, many more. The web means that we can get our village to those places to which folk from Juniper Green have gone to live... what I am calling the dyaspera.
Let me start with some details of how we got things going: two public meetings back in the summer of 2006, 2 groups set up, one to steer the project along and another to discover its history and the living memory of its villagers.
We knew that on November 18th 1707 the words Juniper Green were written down for the first time as part of Colinton Kirk Session meeting minutes. John Johnstone and Mary Hamilton were admonished for ante-nuptial fornication! It's been downhill ever since!
What did we learn: the story of our Bronze Age ancestors making our celebration nearer 4300 years than 300. The skeleton of a 45 - 55 year old man was found at appoint some ten feet from the Lanark Road at a place which we think is near Scott's the butcher; that was found in 1851 and his skull remains to this day in the National Museum of Scotland. Then, further beakers were found when Woodhall Terrace was being built in 1898. What is really exciting is that Juniper Green man as he is known is still being tested: one of his teeth has been taken for analysis in a largescale project to determine where he was brought up, here or in another part of Europe. What they are realizing now is how widespread trading was from Orkney to Wessex and onto the continent too. The results are expected soon and Dr Alison Sheridan has promised to post them on our website when they become available.
We also read in the Scotsman about Gladstone's visit to JG on March 20th 1880.
Reminiscence: training, fixing appointments, taping, transcribing, checking the text, putting onto the website all takes a lot of time. There are now 33 reminiscences on the website and another 7 waiting to go up.
The reminiscers tell a story of village life, a working village with mills providing much of the work though there is still a strong rural tradition with the farms of Woodhall and Baberton etc.
The website: has been designed to have as many images as we can find, as I say some 400 old and new already. It is as interactive as we can make it for now but there are plans to have more in the form of a map of the village. Last year I went to South Africa and saw how a physical map had been brought alive by people telling their story of district 6, razed to the ground during apartheid. The photogallery and the stories told provide further way into the stories on the website be they historical or memories.
Planning the programme: then we thought about the way we could communicate the history and the memories. We are doing that in a number of ways:
- A series of talks and the fourth one in the series is tonight.
- By running an exhibition which will open on June 2nd in St Margaret's Hall;
- The preparation of a booklet ready in early June for gala week we hope; and
- A calendar to run from November 2007 right through 2008. The calendars should be on sale in early May.
Reminiscence: 40 folk or so have told their stories so far and they keep coming in all the time. Yesterday I received a small but significant piece about the local Juniper Green blacksmith from his grandson.
We had a visit last December from Bert Porteous' daughter Janette. She has brought us a lot of her old pictures of her father Bert, his shop and her great granny Granny Hutton who had the shop on Lanark Road from early last century. Janette told us a story that one day this lady rushed into the shop and said "Mr Porteous I'm in such a hurry, do you have a mousetrap, I have a bus to catch", "Oh" says Bert "I don't have one big enough to catch a bus!"
I had the pleasure the other day of interviewing Dr Ross who many of you will know was the, and he was quite precise on this point, the family doctor for Juniper Green, not just any old medic.
One thing for me that has emerged is the growing list of characters associated with the village and its life. The minister in Currie, a Dr Stewart, who often told stories about himself. Like the time he was preaching at St Stephen's and as he approached the church he noticed an old lady on her way to the church so he asked if he could help her up the steps. She agreed and as they ascended the steps she asked "Who is preaching here today, do you know?" "I believe it is Dr Stewart of Currie" he modestly replied. By this time the old lady had reached the top of the steps and she looked at her helper and said "Dr Stewart you say, do you think you could help me down the steps again?" It was Dr Ross who told me that story and he's a good example of characters who have lived here over the years.
School involvement: one of the very pleasing things that has happened is the way the local school have become involved. They are using the website as a resource to discover about the village's past. Some of the JG reminiscers have visited the school to talk about what it was like before and during the Second World War. After these visits or events we are putting up onto the website the story and some of the photographs from the day. The school have been granted just over £7000 from the Awards for All scheme which has enabled them to bring in an author, a playwright and song-writer. They are planning a book, a concert and a cd of songs themselves. No one need be short of Christmas present ideas this year.
Currie Community High and the roll of honour.
What's gone: a village quiz night, a Burns Night, the SWRI reminiscence evening, the launch of the website and 2 of the history meetings.
What's on: more talks including the one tonight; concerts in May, October and December; sporting contests in May and September by tennis and golf respectively; and a gardens open day on August 12th.
Environment: flower tubs, signage, pavements, shopkeepers; Leslie Hannaford will be putting in an order for 19 flower tubs shortly to brighten up the look of the village.
So, what about the history of the Guild? What do we know? How far back do the records go? When did it change from being a Women's Guild only? Who was the first president? These are some of the questions that Elaine and Jean hope to tackle over the summer.
Why do you come?
Is there a particular activity or speaker you remember?
Is there a past member you remember and why?
Jean's mother remembers sowing bees at the manse during the War, tea parties at the manse under Dr George Reed.
Flora MacKenzie remembered the guild at St Margaret's meeting around a fire, put in by the church officer, maybe 1950s, 1960s. Organised the daffodil tea to raise money for over 25 years.
Guild members Flora Mackenzie and May McNair at the AGM with the speaker and his dog Foster in the background
Flora was the president in around 1985, changed from Women's Guild to Guild of Friendship, so named by Betty Cameron. The change came about as there were a too many committees and it was hard to find volunteers to take over at that time. Flora, Isabel Thomson and Mary Brown were all representing the church on one grouping or another around that time.
left:Betty Povey serving tea to Chris Blue at the end of the Guild AGM
right:It is tea time at the end of the AGM
Why do you come along?
- Opportunity to meet together
- Listen to speakers
- Feeling of community
- Meet with your age group though age difference does not seem to matter
- Happy spirit
- Good president, she remembers those who are ill and need a card
- Has always done some research to give a message
- Dot Marshall's advice at 99 is that you just have to keep going on
- Never an unkind word
- Money raised for charity: for example Church of Scotland China group
- Quiz and talks in the evening for all the church members
