A Spark of Hope | The Annual Kirk Service

It really is the greatest joy to see The Cabrach so alive with people. Whether Burns Suppers in deepest darkest January, The Cabrach Picnic & Games in the height of summer, or The Cabrach Annual Kirk Service which arrives each year just as minds begin to turn to the Hairst. 

The Cabrach Annual Kirk Service took place last Sunday (16th August) in the Upper Cabrach Kirk. A wonderful turnout, an uplifting service, and great company afterwards in The Acorn whereby everyone was very well looked after by the Cabrach Community Association. With appreciation to The Reverend Canon Alexander Gordon for conducting this service, his personal reflections on The Cabrach, shared through his sermon, resonated with the assembled community, some excerpts from which are captured below:

“It is a great joy and a privilege for me to be with you this afternoon.  Despite the fact that I was unlucky enough to be the first member of my family since time immemorial not to be born in The Cabrach, from my very earliest days this has always been home in the most profound sense; a fixed point no matter where else in the world I might be.  So, it is good to be here today, as it always is.  And I am sure that will resonate with at least some of you here today who have made a journey to take part in this act of worship….  

“The last time that I took this service was back in 2014 when I was Provost of Inverness Cathedral.  This was very shortly after the formation of The Cabrach Trust, but that provided a spark of hope for what had progressively become throughout the 20th century a deserted, depopulated, and desolate part of the world.  As we stand here today, however, things are different and I am so delighted to see the developments that the Trust has brought.  Ways in which The Cabrach spirit (and I don’t just mean the whisky, important as that is!) is being rediscovered and celebrated in imaginative ways and events… 

“Despite only living here for short periods with my grandparents as a child, I know how powerful this place has been in forming me and it is good to see something of a rebirth of the community now after a long period of desolation.”   

The Reverand Canon Alexander Gordon also features in the photograph above, a boy of seven years old at The Gauch, Upper Cabrach.  

Days like Sunday are special and don’t happen by themselves. They rely on an incredible team of community volunteers who give so generously of their time, year-round, to keep centuries old traditions alive. We can lament the decline experienced in The Cabrach, but we can also resolve and celebrate that such decline is not irreversible. Indeed, that is the very essence of the spirit of The Cabrach. 

The Annual Kirk service is held on the third Sunday of August every year, everyone is welcome.