Parish of Dunstan.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2087, 23 July 1901, Page 5

Parish of Dunstan.

The annual meeting of pari-, shioners of the parish of Funstan wis held in rhe emivbhouse at Olvde on Wednesday. 17tU July, 1901.

The R»v n 0 Oldhim took the chair

Owing to the e ere frost and 'lokiKßS of th • n : sfh r . on'y two members (Messrs W Laidlavv and G Itivrs) wer.i prese :t trom a dib^'iice

The minutes of th» pievious moating A 6 r e »nd confirmed The chunrrui. before reading hfannnnal re > >"•• inM mated tha » eoramunieati > i hal received from the vicar (he 'lev W H Brnwne) st, • in<r <!v he had se» cared hji 1 * passage ff>m Liverpoo 1 on his return to the OHrish, and that hj" might he rk >ec ed to arrive "bout 'he end of November next

ANNUAL KiWKT

Ladies anrl Gentlemen

In presenting to von a short report of thenar's wo k. I ed sure th-t you will acknowledge that, wc have ha I a fairly successful veer anrl inav well be thankful. 'Ti■ e work has jntne on steadily unci regularly, though, perforce, much has been a most untouched. The death of our gracious Queen was the one chief external event, and we, with the rest of t l "' word, hold fittiug memorial servi es for her. Mr Stevens' .;• ergetio work in that connection deserves all praise. The want th it we greatly felt, of regular celebrations of ho Holy Communion lias happily been overcome. Now regular celebrations are hell in each centre, and on the whole are attended very well indeed. This is somewhat accounted for by the fact of our number of con firmed persons being' augmented by the confirmation by the Bishop last year. Yet many—even (oi especially) young people are sadly lax and neglectful of this chief of services and one cannot help greatly regretting their laxity. No tot is so sure as to our real progress as this—of the number of persons who come to the Communion. Good balance sheets are gratifying and most pleasing—but they are not by any means such a test of good and loyal churt/bmanship. The attendance at the services has been satisfactory, though at some services it should be" better. The people of the parish church cannot be congratulated on the Sunday morning se: vices. The statistics for the year are satisfactory. Last year we had 34 baptisms, and this year we have 44. That is, that 78 persons have been received into the church during the Vicar's absence. The number of marriages total 18 for the two years.

Tbe burials number 9 for last year and 12 for this year.

The Sunday schools are flouiishins.', the one at Cromwell having greatly increased. Mrs Crotts has left us in Clyde, Miss Ada Stevens taking her place, while Niiss Fleming has left Cromwell, Miss Pretsch taking her place. The school at Lowburn still does well, whilst that at Ophir seems to be dwindling away, in sp.te of the good efforts of the teachers. On the whole we can have some satisfaction as a pai ish in meeting our vicar on his return. Some good work has been accomplished, the finances have maintained themselves.

It will be a source of pleasure to you to hear that the vicar has sent word that he has already taken his passage from Liverpool by oi.e of the ' White Star' line of steamers, leaving about the middle of September.

Iheba'ance of the parish was »ead> received, and ad pp ted. as alsj were ihoee of the Church committees, and the St Aidun's Chinch bui'ding fund, each closing a satisfactory financial condition

It was resolved that the vestry representative* for parish be 10. as heretofore, and that the original distribution he revened to; vifc., Clyde >h Alexandra 2, Cromwell 2. Roxburgh ;7, and Blacks 1

Flection of Officebearer^

Mr Stevens vvad nominated by th e P»ev Mr Oldham us clergyman's churchwnrdeu. and Mr B N. vlor wa» unanimously elected i'S parishioner's churchwarden. iqThe fol owing tientlemen were du'y elected vestrymen for the ensuing year reapedively as fol* lpwß ;—Clyde—Messrs Fache, Mac and Jeffery r Alexandra - Messrs j Rivers and W S Laid'aw, Cromwell Messrs Stephenson ami Hotop ; Koxburgh —Messrs Cooper and Fiaynes. Blacks -Mr Hawson On the moion of the chairman a hear'y yo'e of thanks to the layreader.-, throughout the parish was carried, also 'o the organists, choir" ladies' guilds, and Sunday school teachers

Mr Gilkison proposed, and Mr .seconded a hearty vote of thanks to 'he rethink vestry

Moved by Mr Naylor—That the vestry desire to make a record of the very efficient manner that the Rev Mr Oldham has conducted the chu-ch during the last year. His I'uties have been very arduous, as ke ha» bad two men's work to do, and lie "as giyen fph satisfaction.—Carried unanimously.

Messrs Stevens and Jeffery also spoke in eulogisti; terms of Mr uldhana's services, The chairman said —He thanked most feincerely those who had spoken so kindly, A gopd deal of work had been done, but he of en felt dissatisfied that so much had been left undone. It was ample reward to himse'f to ftnd that; his efforts had been appreciated, and that he would be pleased to go on working among them for,, many fap ttyHHUft, i ..

At a meeting of the newly, elected vestry, held immediately afterward", the following gentlemen were appointed nominators for the ensuing year -—Roxburgh : Mr 0. Cooper; from well: Mr Stephenson ;. Jlyde :. Mr k Naylur; Alexandra: Mr W S Laidlaw