At the Presbytery meeting on Tuesday 5 December, the Moderator paid tribute to the work of two members of staff who were leaving.

After almost 11 years in a joint post between Scripture Union and Hamilton Presbytery, Jen Robertson, the Schools/Church Development worker is moving to pastures new with the Scottish Bible Society. Jen has been involved in a huge range of activities across the Presbytery including Bubblegum & Fluff and Easter Code – for primary school children, Breathe and other residential opportunities for older children as well as invaluable support to ministers and others in congregations looking to engage more fully with children and young people in their congregations and communities.Roberta highlighted not only the value of this wide-ranging support but also the way Jen encouraged people to try new things.

Helen Pope has been the New Connections Project Worker for the last three years and has worked with a number of congregations to see how they might discover more about and connect better with their communities.Roberta made particular mention of Helen’s enthusiasm and passion for the job, which has led to her work in the Presbytery has been recognised by the National Church who commissioned Helen to run training on her methodology – Asset Based Community Development – to a much wider audience.The pilot project has now come to an end and a report will be available on the website shortly.