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The Olive Grove - Outside	The Olive Grove - Inside

The Olive Grove

The latest outreach project has been the opening of “The Olive Grove” in the former Post Office in the Kingsmills shops. The loss of that hub of community was keenly felt, and church members felt encouraged to open a tea room which might be a place of warm welcome and hospitality, and furthermore a base for various groups and “outside the walls” activities for the church.

The Olive Grove is managed on a voluntary basis by Angy MacDiarmid, and serves fairly traded tea, coffee and hot chocolate, and homemade soup, homemade bread and delicious scones and cakes freshly made on the premises, along with a selection of sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, bacon rolls, paninis etc. Vegetarians and those on gluten free diets can be catered for.

The opening times are:

• Monday – Friday 10 am to 4 pm
• Saturday 10 am to 2 pm

From the May Newsletter

Pictured after their celebratory meal are some of the 63 volunteers who work for The Olive Grove                                                                    Photo Iain MacDiarmid

The Olive Grove:  Anniversary and Moderatorial Visit

The Olive Grove was officially opened on 21st April 2009 and over the last two weeks this anniversary has been marked first with a meal at the Corriegarth Hotel for all staff on 14th April, then on Thursday 22nd April a beautifully decorated cake was baked by Jaye Rankine of OHSS. The cake was shared with everyone who came to the Olive Grove until eventually it ran out. On Monday 26th April, there came another day to remember when the Olive Grove was honoured with a visit by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Revd. William Hewitt. He was on a week-long visit to Inverness & Nairn Presbytery and was kind enough to take time, with his wife, to meet some of the volunteers who share in the running of this community tea-room week by week. The volunteers on duty this particular morning were Ruby Coe, Jean Munro, Sheena Ferguson and David Crippin. While enjoying morning coffee, the Moderator expressed his admiration for the entire venture, both for its ethos and the scope of its outreach. Mrs Hewitt added that it was particularly encouraging to meet with such a shared Christian vision across the four churches at a time when the Church is often viewed as being too inward looking and not terribly active outside its own walls. At a civic dinner in the Town Hall  the Moderator again made favourable public mention of the Olive Grove’s record in the community.

After a successful year’s “trading” it is our prayer that this undertaking will continue to be a blessing to the community and beyond. With this in mind I would take this opportunity to thank each and every Olive Grove volunteer; without their loyalty, dependability and sheer hard work none of this would have happened.      Angy MacDiarmid

The Moderator pictured with General Manager Angy MacDiarmid, and two of the Monday staff – Jean Munro and Ruby Coe.    

Photo  Donald  Matheson