Kirks given closure reprieve for time being

Kirks under threat of closure in Stromness and Sanday have been handed a stay of execution this Wednesday.

The Orkney Presbytery have given Stromness Kirk and Sanday Cross Kirk a year to allow them to draw up cost plans and undertake building work, before their fates will be decided by the new amalgamated Presbytery of the North East and the Northern Isles next year.

News in recent months that the two kirks would had been slated for closure by the Church of Scotland resulted in a backlash from their respective congregations.

Emotions ran high in a meeting this afternoon, where the presbytery heard heartfelt pleas on behalf the churches, the futures of which hang in the balance.

In a vote, a new Presbytery Mission Plan was approved by 14 votes to none, with a number of abstentions.

The final plan diverged from previous versions, now allowing Stromness 12 months to undertake building work; and Sanday’s congregation time to create a costed plan for a new place of worship — to be built on a site they have already identified.

More on this in next week’s The Orcadian.