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Edinburgh Maud, who studied for the Unitarian ministry in Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and subsequently at Harvard, is a long-time member of our Dublin congregation, so it was with great delight that we received the news of her appointment last autumn. (see photos front cover) Rugby supporters are not the only ones who are prepared to travel to Edinburgh for great occasions and a number of St. Stephen’s Green Unitarians made their way there on 21st February to attend Maud’s service and to wish her and her congregation well in her new ministry. St. Mark’s Church has a central position in the city and commands a fine view of the Castle. The weather was not warm in Edinburgh but the welcome was, as we took our seats in a rapidly filling church. The service was led by Rev. Jane Barraclough, familiar to Dubliners after her visit to us a couple of years ago, and other participants included Joyce Ashworth, President of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, who also visited Dublin recently, and, of course, our own Rev. Bill Darlison, Senior Minister of Dublin, who delivered the ‘Counsel to the Congregation’ in his own inimitable style, advice which was received with amusement and appreciation. The hymns were well loved favourites: Be thou my vision, Now let us sing in loving celebration, My life flows on in endless song, and This is my song, O God of all the nations, to such an extent that I felt the links between St. Mark’s and St Stephen’s Green were already firmly established, a feeling that was reinforced by Bill Stephen’s spirited reading of Yeats’ The Fiddler of Dooney. The service ended with a few words from John Reid, representing the congregation of St. Mark’s, who spoke to Maud with such warmth and affection that I felt we were leaving her in good hands. Afterwards we enjoyed a celebratory party at the Traverse Theatre, a few minutes walk from the church, where excellent refreshments were served and conversation flowed in true Unitarian style. Jennifer Flegg |