various photographic contributions of Jim Elder, and also those who have been willing to contribute the little anecdotes which give us an insight into what people went through in a time which was unknown to most of us, and forgotten by some.

For me, the last year has been a time when I have been drawn much closer into what Christians call the “Communion of Saints” — the fellowship we have together through Christ with those who have been this way before us.

The word ‘saint’ is one which disturbs many of us when it is applied to ourselves - it disturbed those whose images we see in the stained glass windows of some churches — no doubt it would upset Ninian too! Yet, it is a word which is used to describe all those who follow Christ in whatever generation — we draw close to them whenever we break the bread and drink the cup at a Communion service.

Many human beings would like to feel, that when the time comes to join the Communion of Saints who worship in the nearer presence of God, they will have left behind some mark or other which will show that they have been that way. To few today is given the opportunity to leave behind some share in the start of a church, but to all of us is given the opportunity to hold the life of a church in trust to be handed on to those who follow after us. What will they be saying about us in 2026 — forty years further on, or in 2046 when as we pray, St. Ninian’s Church may be celebrating its centenary?

There is a real sense in which I feel myself to be treading where saints trod before me. I hope very much that you will be able to share that experience as you read this booklet, and also that those who come after us will be able to say something about our own vision and faithfulness.

Kenneth B. C. Fear

Easter Day 1986

Introduction

I never knew most of my predecessors in the ministry at St. Ninian’s, although it has been my joy to have the Reverend John Forsyth as a member of St. Ninian’s Church and as a ministerial colleague within the local U. R. C. fraternal and District Council. Yet, over the last year I feel that I have come to know something about each of them, and I have been drawn closer to them by that knowledge. Since I began to read the old minute books of St. Ninian’s Presbyterian Church, Solihull at Easter 1985, I have found that one man in particular has begun to loom increasingly large — and I understand that he was physically big too. There can be no doubt that had it not been for the Reverend W. S. Ferrie, there would be no St. Ninian’s United Reformed Church, Solihull. I know of few people who would take on the Presbytery - even fewer would have taken them on and overturned their decisions. Without his vision and faithfulness, there would be no celebration in 1986; the endeavour to start a church in Solihull would have been just another long forgotten unsuccessful attempt.

However, St. Ninian’s never has been and must never be allowed to become a ‘one man’ story — unless that one man is Jesus Christ. Others have come to build on the foundation that Mr. Ferrie laid — the ministries of the Reverends Cedric Mercer and John Forsyth have also pointed to the centrality of Jesus Christ, as I hope that, in retrospecL, others may be able to say is happening in 1986.

I wish to thank all those through whose efforts this history has become possible. Particular mention must be made of those parts which have been written by Mrs. Mac Morley, and Messrs. David Brown, Alex Mackie and Richard Nunn; it would not be complete without the