Sunday School 2

The Balls were on the scene by now, as were the Pollocks and a very keen oversight was kept upon the weekly proceedings by Coventry Walker, as representative of the Session. He did have something of a vested interest, of course, with their family of four regular attenders. Other elders showed interest at this halcyon period and were to be found leading Senior classes. It was in this early sixties time that a very shy David Adams joined the junior staff and took great interest. He served for almost two years until he went to Newcastle to read anthropology. David was the nearest the church has come to producing a minister from within its congregation. He died tragically in the Solomon Islands serving his country and his Lord. We still feel proud to know we had such a person on our strength.

Mr. Stevenson had taken over the reins from Mr. Ferrie’s day and all departments were the poorer when Mr. Stevenson resigned and departed in the late sixties. He had been a worthy successor to Mr. Ferrie, displaying the same ever-increasing enthusiasm. He too revelled in organising the annual summer picnic. Now in the grounds of a Free Church at Chadwick End, the event boasted the coronation of a “May” Queen. It was the Queen’s job to represent the Sunday School at any major events and presentations during the ensuing year. The event boasted full regalia - ladies in waiting, floral crown, posies, long dresses and so on.

Before her fatal illness, Mrs. Grace Stevenson played a very active supportive role to the Sunday School, particularly on these special occasions. She too took a class for a time. The Stevensons were not only unflinching with their time and talents, but much of the more expensive equipment in the Sunday School was provided through their financial generosity.

Mr. Stevenson instigated the introduction of the N. S. S. U. Scripture examinations. Today such a programme would find few takers, but in its day, it helped to encourage regular attendance and helped show the purpose of the scriptural content of the Sunday School lesson as bonuses as well as its main purpose of fostering personal knowledge of God’s word. Enthusiasm was such that, near examination time, we even had a “swot” session mid—week!

The sixties certainly brought prosperity and a sharp increase in the awareness of materialism generally. Our own congregation did not escape. By the end of the decade we were short of teaching staff. The honeymoon was over! Mr. Stevenson had gone and Mr. Forsyth could find no replacement, so gallantly held the fort as superintendent, on a strictly temporary basis, of course. Such was the enthusiasm from without for the job that Mr. Forsyth held his temporary post until he retired! Mr. Forsyth soon found the affluent sixties society less willing to commit itself to weekly teaching chores (or even weakly teaching chores!) He begrudgingly instituted, as an inevitable compromise, two staffing rotas - one for primary and another for seniors. The rota idea has run in Primary more or less successfully ever since but it was not until the present Messrs. Mackie and Nunn partnership evolved that the senior children benefited from the stability those two worthies introduced and the Sunday School itself benefited from the marked increase in fellowship and attendance at that end. This is in no way to deride the valiant service given by those several ladies and gentlemen in the interim, but too many changes of face too frequently did not seem to work at St. Ninian’s for our older age groups.