DAVID Redmayne is confident that the future is very bright for Beath Cowdenbeath North Church.

Rev Redmayne will preach his last service before his retiral on Sunday but he feels that the tremendous spirit among the members of the congregation will help steer the Beath and North Church community on a sound path.

He recalled this week how he almost missed his interview for the post as Beath and North minister, to replace the retiring Peter Rae: “I got stuck on High Street and the traffic just did not seem to be moving at all.

“I did not realise that it was the queue waiting to get into the petrol station at the top end. It was during the Petrol Tanker Driver’s Strike and I thought I was never going to make the interview.

“Fortunately I was able to get out of the queue and made the meeting, but only just.”

David was ordained on November 12, 2000 and it was the start of 17 years serving a congregation that has achieved a lot in that time, especially seeing the buildings updated with the Church and the hall linked.

He added: “Of course time never stands still and when I arrived I thought to myself that even to remain steady in terms of membership totals we would have to attract new people to join us.

“The Alpha Course was probably the biggest venture on that line which gave people the opportunity to experience the church and find faith themselves and it certainly saw a number join us.

“Over the years we have introduced the family service on the first Sunday of the month and it has been about involving all age groups, from the very youngest to the oldest.

“There have been a number of young families join Beath and Cowdenbeath North which has been something which has helped build a solid base on which to grow and we currently have around the 200 mark in terms of members, and while you always want more it is a good total.

“They are a committed group of people who are all very valuable contributors to the Church community.”

David was delighted to be asked to help organise the Cowdenbeath Churches Together Fun Day which took place in August and he feels that congregations ‘coming together’ is an important facet of the future.

He said: “We have had the World Day of Prayer and Holy Week Services for years, and these are always good events, but this was the first time we had come together to try to organise this sort of community fun day event.

“It was refreshing to have the input from the various congregations and the Salvation Army and the day itself was an excellent event.

“So hopefully it will by the start of something which will become an annual part of the calendar.”

David has been pleased with the way that the church fabric has been regularly renewed and a bequest from hard working member Mary Salmond saw a great deal achieved with a link between the church and the hall created and changes made that has brought the facilities up to a top class standard.

Meanwhile the church itself has been completely refurbished along the way with a new heating system and doors a feature through excellent fundraising initiatives and grants which have been welcomed.