A Massive Thank You!

At the Official Opening of the Reformation Room on Thursday past, Rev. Ian Brown offered thanks to a wide variety of people who have been involved in this project. These included:

- to all of the Martyrs congregation, for their prayers, patience, and practical support;

- to the Kirk Session and Committee for coming completely on board with the project and granting us a generous budget of £3500 – even when they could not have known exactly what they were being asked to support – and even though for a long time nothing much was visible (maybe a little wallpapering and a tiny rope bed);

e.g. I started buying 28mm pewter figures for the model at the end of last year, started to paint them (110 so far) – only 2 weeks ago did I get opportunity to start to work on some scenery – and I’ll need another few weeks to get over the finishing line on this one!

- to Peter Lunn, our Project Coordinator and financial regulator: he has spent many more hours in this house than in his own over the last few months and has shown an incredible level of dedication to this cause;

- to Phil Hartin and Alana Wilkinson, for bringing news of the project to local schools and securing the bookings, plus a whole raft of practical help (Alana has drafted Notes for the Tour Guides based on what I said during a pilot tour on Tuesday), Phil has burned place names into old wooden planks to the point when he has posed a danger to his own health;

- to Jim Lockheed and Ian Jenkinson, for putting in a massive amount of practical work: one example (out of many) occurred on Tuesday night when we recognised the fact that we had no display cabinets. We had approached a local company, provided them with relevant dimensions, etc., were promised quotes – but nothing appeared. By Wednesday morning, two display cabinets had been made by Jim and Ian!

- to Marjorie Stitt, who has reverted to her role as seamstress and produced two monks robes and is working on two Katherine Von Bora outfits;

- to others who have produced materials – Charlotte Dickson (Luther’s mattress), Peter Ards (metal tags for the model that will, in time, identify what each scene represents), Karl Burgess (who is working on a paper model of the Wartburg Castle that Rosetta brought back from Germany and is also providing an inkwell with quill, plus a battered hammer and nails), my son Joel (for designing the stamp for our Gutenberg Press);

- to Revs. Stanley Barnes, Ron Johnstone and Gordon Dane for the loan of Luther materials, to Dorothy Baird’s granddaughter for loan of a copy of the 1534 Luther Bible, and to Wendy Middleton for the loan of an embroidered copy of the Ten Commandments.