Church-goers whisked back in time as mysterious box hidden for nearly 100 years is opened

Church members were whisked back in time and given a fascinating insight into the life of the Bearsden congregation nearly 100 years ago.

A mysterious time capsule was discovered hidden amongst the rubble of New Kilpatrick Parish Church's old hall last week after it was demolished to make way for a new block of flats.

A rumour had circulated for years that there might be a box hidden inside a stone wall but nobody could be sure it was true until it was found.

The lead-covered box was opened during the service on Sunday and inside were coins and a number of documents including the edition of the Church of Scotland's magazine, Life and Work, from September 1934.

It was priced two pence and included an article that dated back 100 years ago, which means nearly 200 years of history is represented in the time capsule.

Treasures

The magazine also included articles on the ‘Order of Deaconesses', 'Holidays for City Mothers' and ‘Our Anglican Conference', showing that the same breadth of pastoral work, social care and ecumenical partnership work was empowering the Church of Scotland then as now.

The box also contained the 1933 church annual report and an edition of the Glasgow Herald dated Saturday, 7 September 1934.

Unlike the newspaper of today, it featured no headline stories on the front page.

Instead, it showed 'Hatches, Matches and Dispatches', and three long columns of church notices for the next day, showing the significance of church life for people alive then.

A copy of the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald, the local weekly newspaper still in circulation today, was folded up in the box.

New Kilpatrick Parish Church is one of the oldest active congregations in Scotland and a special service was held last year to mark 375 years of being a parish.

Its motto is "open hearts, open minds, open faith" and parish minister Rev Roddy Hamilton described the time capsule as a fascinating find.

"There were a number of coins found in the time capsule, all dated 1934, or as close to that date as possible - a crown, ha'penny, farthing, sixpence etc," he explained.

"The children found these particularly interesting given our greater use of cards and mobile phones to pay for things, especially the weight of coins that really would tear a hole in your pocket.

"Smallest of all the documents was the order of service for the laying of the foundation stone on 8 September 1934.

"The minister of the congregation and parish at the time was Rev James McCardel, whose daughter is a member of New Kilpatrick and was at the service on Sunday, holding the same order paper that he did all those years ago."

New time capsule

Mr Hamilton said a discussion on what to do with the contents has taken place.

"The developer who now owns the site of the old building has suggested they display some of the coins in the new vestibule as well as use the date stone in the new construction," he added.

"The other documents may be buried again in a new bigger capsule that will include newspapers and coins from today, along with some other ideas such as a letter, a mobile phone complete with instructions, photos, stories, and suggestions from both children and adults about our life as a church today.

"We have a heritage month coming up in September of this year and given that is the month 91 years ago that the original time capsule was buried, we might do it all again.

"It will keep the story of the church going, so in 100 years time another generation can see representations of more than 200 years of Christian heritage in this place.

"Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall then?"