special feature of this site, 'elongated balls of actinolite sheathed in black mica'? Another Trust sub-committee in the afternoon, this one focussing on our anti-litter campaign and the possibilities of recycling aluminium and glass containers. The last hour of the day is spent with the Shetland archaeologist, going through some projects we're involved in. Then post haste to the office to change for a wedding; one of the NCC's staff is getting married and there's a dance to follow: nothing like an eightsome reel to blow the cares away! Saturday * * * Lots of things crowd into Saturdays: today, as well as the housework, shopping, and taking Hannah and Rebecca to roller-disco and fiddle lessons, I have to recover from the exertions of last night. In a small place like Lerwick, the job's never far away either; by the checkout in Presto, someone I vaguely know comes up to me and tells me that a nearby proprietor wants to complain to me about someone else's development. A delicate business, but all is resolved. Friends to stay tonight: big pizza. Sunday * * * Is windy, with sleet at 45 degrees. Porridge, coffee, big fire, Monopoly, bread-baking. Around mid-day, we mount an expedition to the beach, about 300 yards down the hill from the house. We return with two sackfuls of driftwood and glowing fingers and cheeks. More coffee, bigger fire and nice pictures of the Galapagos on the telly. I reflect on this diary and wonder when I'll find time to tackle the two or three bigger projects that always rest, like a mirage, in the week ahead. Roll on Monday ... Alistair Hamilton is Conservation Officer with Shetland Islands Council. He says Shetland is a great place for a holiday, with fascinating wildlife, archaeology and buildings. Any ACO members who may be visiting the islands are very welcome to pay him a visit, or call him on Lerwick 3535 extension 317. IIIIIIIIIlIlIII11111111111111111111111111111111111' 1111111111111£~~:~~:~:~;IIR~~l~=~:~1' CHURCHES * * * Desmond Hodges There are twice as many pews in Scotland as there ever were worshippers. Schism, missionary zeal and addiction to fierce argument are Scottish attributes which since 1946 helped to make 1078 churches redundant in a country where at least 80 out of every 100 people acknowledge the existence of God though at most only 17% attend church. Theatres, a concert-hall, an electricity sub-station, offices, domestic flats, stores and a casino are among the 48 more or less successful examples of re-cycled ecclesiastical buildings identified in a comprehensive study* by Kirsty Campbell, the Robert Hurd Scholar, who presented her research in a lecture to the Saltire Society earlier this year. She said that 77% of all redundant churches belong to the Church of Scotland, the Established Church; many of these are the result of re-unions of those congregations which splintered during the 18th century and 19th century into many sects, each with their own buildings. The slow spread of ecumenism will further reduce the total number of buildings needed for Christian worship; other religions may use some of those made redundant but * Kirsty A. Campbell: "Redundant church buildings in Scotland; causes and consequences". M.Sc. Thesis Heriot-Watt University/Edinburgh College of Art. September 1987. the majority of empty churches will either disappear or be converted to secular use. Edinburgh's Churches In Scotland's Central Belt (Glasgow I Edinburgh / Dundee) there has been a population movement outwards to suburbs and new towns leaving empty fine city churches. This movement is perhaps less pronounced m Scotland than 1n England. Traditional city-centre tenements are still desirable residences here, particularly in Central Edinburgh where there is a constant demand for houses in the 75% residential Georgian New Town and increasingly, in the reviving Royal Mile. In spite of this there are thirty-nine listed churches in Edinburgh which are not m ecclesiastical use. Churches, prominently sited, are often the finest examples of formal architecture in a town, designed to close a vista or to complement a view. Campaigns to prevent the loss of such urban treasures are fought vigorously and often by local and national amenity soc1et1es; Edinburgh is well provided with both. Gordon McFarlane of Edinburgh's Planning Department notes that although there are relatively few medieval kirks in the city (six of the remaining ten are still in use), there are many late-Gothic and three major 17th century churches which are rare in England. There are numerous Georgian churches, 18 with towers or spires, while the classical "preaching box" remained in vogue here long after it had ceased to be built in Engalnd. Most great churches were built when public worship was a mass movement and when the Church as an institution could rival the State in influence and the provision of social welfare. It is not appropriate for small congregations today to carry the full costs of maintaining a public monument event though the symbolic presence of a worshipping church is not to be underContinued . 6
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