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- Tear Fund Big Quiz Night – Sat 17th Nov 2018 November 17, 2018admin
Tear Fund Big Quiz Night
58 of us in Selkirk Parish Church hall, along with 22,000 others in 498 venues across the UK, took part in TearFund’s Big Quiz Night. £281 in donations was raised for TearFund. Competition was fierce, and the questions were challenging, with 6 rounds of 10 questions each: Music, TV and Film, Food and drink, Sports, Geography and General Knowledge. Teams could play their joker to double the score in any chosen round, and we had a bonus world map round of 12 points, so 82 points in all to play for.
Here we go, ready to start 
midway through 
And the winning team was “Eyes on the prize” with 53 points. Here they are, deep in thought – well done!
- Tearfund Big Quiz October 14, 2018admin
Tearfund Big Quiz
17th November 2018
doors open 7pm for 7.30 start
tea/coffee provided
BYOB
entry by donation: suggested minimum £15 for a team of 4
all proceeds to TearfundIf you have a full team, please try to let us know in advance,
but you can come and join a team on the night.
- Out of Africa meal October 2, 2018admin
Colourful Africa-themed tables Out of Africa, 28th Sept 2018
Out of Africa, on 29th September, was an evening of good food and company – colourful kangas on the tables and David T. got a round of applause for wearing his kaftan, embroidered by disabled people in Malawi.
The cooks did a great job, and the young people once again charmed everyone with their waitering skills and smiles.
No-one wanted to go home after the meal was over – the sign of a good evening.
3 of our waiter/waitress team, looking very smart and ready to serve. 
The meal was part of our Harvest weekend and was planned by the Eco-congregation and Fairtrade groups.
The surplus from ticket money, £165, was donated to the Christian Aid Harvest project, supporting people like Aster in rural Ethiopia where she runs a solar-powered shop as she can not longer rely solely on farming for an income.
The Fairtrade stall also made a good number of sales and we heard about the difficulties faced by Traidcraft.
- SPC to disinvest from fossil fuels July 6, 2018admin
SPC to disinvest from fossil fuels
Following the General Assembly’s decision to continue to “engage” with fossil fuel companies, despite this policy being ineffective in persuading them to change their strategy, the Kirk Session and Congregational Board have agreed to withdraw the funds we currently have invested in the Church of Scotland Growth Fund.
The full text of the letter sent to the Investors Trust is provided below:
In the light of our concerns about climate change driven by the continued burning of fossil fuels, most recently highlighted by Pope Francis in his meeting with oil executives, and the failure of the Church of Scotland’s policy of engagement to bring about significant change in the policies and practices of Shell, BP and Total over the last 2 years, Selkirk Parish Church has decided to withdraw its funds invested in the Church of Scotland Growth Fund.
As an eco-congregation, we do not believe it is ethically acceptable to invest in, and gain profit from, companies whose main aim is to continue to explore for, and to extract, fossil fuels. For example, BP states on its website that its strategy is to “invest in more gas and oil, producing both with increasing efficiency”. In fact, we believe that these investments are contrary to the Investors Trust’s current policy not to invest in companies whose “activities … are felt to harm society more than they benefit it”. The activities of Shell, BP and Total (and other similar companies) are driving the whole world towards dangerous and potentially uncontrollable climate change, already causing harm to people across many parts of the planet.
We disagree with the Church of Scotland’s policy to continue to “engage” with these companies as being impractical and ineffective. Many large institutions, including cities, universities, some pension funds, the British Medical Association, the Church of Ireland and the United Reformed Church in Scotland have already agreed to fully divest from all fossil fuel exploration and extraction. We believe that the Church of Scotland should be leading the way for others, and should fully divest now from all companies involved in fossil fuel exploration and extraction; this would give a stronger signal to these companies than any engagement is ever likely to do.
Within Selkirk Parish Church, we are committed to caring for God’s creation. We can no longer wait for the Church or Scotland to act in this matter, so we are taking our own small steps to make ourselves “fossil free”. Withdrawing our funds is one step in this journey that we are able to make now, and therefore we are doing so. We hope that other congregations may follow our example.
The funds withdrawn may be either reinvested in an ethical fund or used to part-fund a children and families worker; we consider this to be a much better way to invest for growth in God’s Kingdom.
- 3rd June walk and picnic at the Meetings June 3, 2018admin
Picnic at the meetings – June 3rd 2018
Well, it wasn’t the lovely sunny day that we have been hoping for, but some of us enjoyed a walk after church on Sunday 3rd June, and a picnic down at “the meetings”.
