Fairtrade Update

The Fairtrade Group at Cumbernauld Old is reinstating the monthly Fairtrade stall.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2023 has recently finished and in recognition of this annual celebration of ethical trade, we hope to revitalise our commitment as a Church to support and promote the values of fairer trading practice.

On Sunday 26th March members of the Fairtrade Group will be participating in our worship service and you will have the opportunity to purchase your Fairtrade favourites at the end of the service.

Going forward, we hope to have the Fairtrade stall available on the last Sunday of every month and we look forward to seeing you there.

Worship on Sunday 27th February

Please join us for worship at Cumbernauld Old this Sunday, 27th February. The service will be held in the Parish Church at the usual time of 11.00am and will be led by Ivar Struthers, one of our elders and a Reader with the Church of Scotland.

As this service will take place during Fairtrade Fortnight (see below), it will have a bit of a Fairtrade ‘flavour’ to it. We hope you can join us!

We also hope to have our livestream working again and you should be able to join our service via our Facebook page at 11am on Sunday if you can’t be with us in person.

Please note that, until we are told otherwise by the Church of Scotland, we are still asking everyone to adhere to the Covid guidelines, i.e. everyone attending church should take a Lateral Flow Test beforehand and, while at church, wear a face covering (unless exempt), leave their contact details for Test and Protect, use the hand sanitiser provided and keep a safe distance between yourself / your family group and other worshippers while in the church sanctuary. We encourage everyone to use all areas of the sanctuary, including the east and west aisles, and follow the one-way system when arriving and leaving. Thank-you for your help and understanding!

Fairtrade Fortnight

Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 21 February to 6 March 2022 and we are all being invited to ‘Choose the World you Want’ with an online festival with films and talks and even tasting events, as well as being encouraged to keep on looking out for the Fairtrade mark on the things we all buy.

We are going to put a ‘Cumbernauld Old Fairtrade Shopping List’ up on our website to enable people to order a limited number of popular Fairtrade goods each month basis until we are able to reinstate our regular Fairtrade stall at Church. Watch this space for more details.

Church Newsletter

The latest edition of our Church newsletter has just been published and copies will be distributed to our members over the next week or two. You can download a copy from the Magazine page on our website. Enjoy!

Fairtrade Fortnight 2022

Fairtrade Fortnight is here!

Fairtrade Fortnight 2022 runs from 21 February to 6 March and we are all being invited to ‘Choose the World You Want’ with an online festival with films and talks and even tasting events, as well as being encouraged to keep on looking out for the Fairtrade mark on the things we all buy.

Cumbernauld Old is a Fairtrade Church and our worship service on Sunday 27th February will have a bit of a Fairtrade ‘flavour’ to it. So please join in and ‘Choose the World You Want’ this Fairtrade Fortnight.

Transforming lives

Cumbernauld Old Parish Church is a Fairtrade Church and, when we are able, serve Fairtrade teas and coffees after our services and occasionally have Fairtrade goods available to buy.
Earlier this year we were able to pass on some of the donations we received to a number of charities through our connections with Gavin’s Mill. One such charity was Transform Burkina and they wrote to us to say how our donation made a difference there…

“Many thanks for your kind donation to Transform Burkina which you made via Gavin’s Mill Gifts. It has been as especially difficult year globally due to the Covid-19 pandemic and although Burkina Faso has not been hit as hard as other countries directly by the virus, the indirect effects of a national lockdown on such a fragile economy have been widespread. This has meant your donation has been more valuable than ever.

“All our projects have continued – the Bethanie Health Centre in Ouagadougou continues its vital work based in an informal settlement on the edge of the capital, our clean water projects have increased and we are currently in the process of creating new clean water supplies for three villages in the north of the country and our two agricultural projects are growing, with students learning the basics in farming techniques and then being given a starter pack of seeds and tools to start farming themselves.”

You can find out more at https://www.transformburkina.org.uk/health-3/

Thank you to everyone who supports our Fairtrade initiatives here at Cumbernauld Old. We look forward to a time when we can restart and hope it won’t be too long!

Easter Egg Appeal 2021

As we have done in previous years, Cumbernauld Old Parish Church will be collecting Easter Eggs for distribution by Bethlehem House of Bread based at Cornerstone to those who otherwise wouldn’t be receiving one.

If you would like to donate an Easter Egg (or more than one!) please drop them off at the Manse (next door to the Church in the Village) by Palm Sunday, the 28th March.
If you would prefer to donate cash, that would be great too. Please post an envelope through the door at the Manse. We’ll take your donations to Cornerstone where they will ensure the money goes where it is most needed this Easter-time.

If you would like to donate a Fair Trade Easter egg, they are available through Traidcraft (just click on the link) Thank you as always for your generosity!

Fairtrade Easter Egg, available from Traidcraft

Worship for Sunday 7th March

Cumbernauld Old Parish Church invites you to join us for worship online on Sunday 7th March, the Third Sunday of Lent. It also marks the end of Fairtrade Fortnight and there is a Fairtrade theme running throughout our worship this week. Worship is led by our minister, Rev Elspeth McKay and is available here or by clicking on the video link below.

You are welcome to join us at any time, but why not worship with us at 11am on Sunday which is our usual time of worship when we are able to meet together in the church building. Many of us still worship around that time at home and you will be among friends, even if not in the same building!

Worship from Cumbernauld Old Parish Church for Sunday 7th March

As with all our worship services, this Sunday’s service is available to all, so please feel free to share with any family or friends. Please also check out our Facebook page for all the latest news from Cumbernauld Old. We have also posted a series of Lent reflections on our Facebook page and invite you to share in a short reading and reflection each day from now until Easter.

Kirk Session Meeting

The Kirk Session will meet by Zoom and telephone on Thursday 11th March at 7.30pm.
An agenda and the minutes of our previous meeting have been sent electronically to everyone for whom we have an email address and by post to other members of the Kirk Session.

Fairtrade and Fellowship

After our Fairtrade-themed service at Cumbernauld Old Parish Church on Sunday 8th March, we will be holding the first of our “Fairtrade and Fellowship” ‘warm welcome’ events. These will take place about four times throughout the year and will always co-ordinate with a Fairtrade stall. We invite those attending worship to stay in Church after our service on Sunday to enjoy Fairtrade tea / coffee / home baking and to engage in Fellowship with your Church family. Please also take the opportunity also to visit our Fairtrade stall.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2019

On Sunday 10th March Cumbernauld Old Parish Church will celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight with a service dedicated to raising awareness of the need for ethical trade. We will be welcoming a visitor from Gavin’s Mill, who will share with us the ethos that sits behind the wide-ranging role that this Fairtrade shop / café plays within the Fairtrade community.

As well as our regular Fairtrade stall we will be offering Fairtrade teas / coffees and home-baking in Church after our service. The Fairtrade group looks forward to seeing you then.