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Welcome to the
Church of Scotland  Pulteneytown & Thrumster Churches
Argyle Square, Wick, Caithness, U.K.
Pulteneytown Parish Church Web Site

Latest News

31 May 08
Rev Bill Wallace Set To Retire
The congregation of Pulteneytown & Thrumster Parish Church will be saying their fond farewell's to their much loved, and highly respected Minister Rev Bill Wallace and his Wife Jean, on the week-ending June 7th/8th 2008 Mr Wallace has been thirty four years as Minister at the Church in Argyle Square. A special service of thanksgiving and praise will be held on Saturday evening June the 7th and he will conduct his final services on the following Lord's day prior to his retirement. Rev William Wallace BDS BD was born in Falkirk Stirlingshire and brought up in the city of Glasgow. He qualified as a dental surgeon in 1964 and worked full time in dentistry for a year, and latterly part time, while he studied at New College Edinburgh for the Ministry.

14 September 05
Pulteneytown Parish Church Gets A New Web Site
Caithness has definitely got the web site bug and there seems to be no slow down in new sites being set up.   The new sites are being added to appropriate sections and our Caithness Web Sites listings

13 August 04
Holiday Club’s Big Celebration.

The Holiday Club at Pulteneytown Parish Church was once again a great success with large number of young people attending. Over the week nearly 200 young people enjoyed the last week before returning to school with a wide variety of activities organised by members and friends of the congregation. In total nearly 40 hours of activities were on offer.

On Saturday 14 August the primary school children will be at Dunnett exploring the forest then enjoying activities on the beach. The High Schoolers will be having a beach-bar-b-que.

One Sunday night there will be a Big Celebration in the church at 6.30 to which the young folks will be inviting their parents and friends to see and hear some of the things they were doing during the week. A new development this year will be a Family Fun, Bar-b-que and Charity Football Match in the Bignold Park on Saturday 21st Aug. from 5.30 – 7.30. The Church Youth Group have challenged the ‘older’ members to a football match – the proceeds will go towards the Church Kitchen Fund.

The Minister of the congregation, Rev. Bill Wallace paid tribute to the ‘wonderful group of helpers’ who organise the events each year. “Not only are numbers keeping up after so many years but the number of High School young people taking part and helping is increasing each year. This year there were around 30 4th, 5th and 6th year pupils involved in the ‘Breakout’ activities”.

25 May 03
Rev Bill Wallace And Rev Sandy Gunn At Pulteneytown Church Re-opening
There was no hiding the delight of the two ministers at today's re-opening of the main building at Pultentytown church.  Rev Bill Wallace was joined by the former minister Rev. Sandy Gunn (1967 - Dec 1973).  After nearly 50 years of discussion by various kirk sessions on the problems of the vestibule and windy entrance work finally got underway about 18 months ago.  At a cost of over £250,000 a huge range of work has been carried out both inside and outside.  From the new glass door, heating system and complete refurbishment of the interior and contributions from a wide range of bodies, businesses and individuals.  Many church members have worked on the inside of the building in their free time and they were thanked for the tremendous efforts they had made.

In a happy service the children sang a rap song.  A baby was baptised and there was a feeling of happiness that the work was completed and the congregations was finally back in its rightful place in Pultentown church.

Other additions include a gas heating sytsem in the old hall and a complete transformation.  the new courtyard reception area has under-floor heating. New disabled toilets. The 1842 entrance doors restored to new condition and new glass internal doors with the slogan "Jesus Christ, Yesterday, Today and Forever" inscribed on it.  the chancel area has been renovated with a disabled ramp added, improved lighting and modern audio-visual unit put in place.    The gallery was altered and surrounding barrier moved back to allow better visibility and lighting.  the church floor was sanded and revarnished.  the whole church has been re-decorated and re-carpeted.  Out of site many old rotten beams have been removed and replaced.  Some of them were the original timbers and suffering their age.  Bill Wallace acknowledged the assistance from many places in the work that took longer than expected.  The church was still some way short of having the total finance but the decision was made to go ahead with these long awaited works.

Pulteneytown church now has an extremely light interior and will be a great setting for many years to come for services, marriages and other gatherings.

A collection was taken at the service towards some of the costs of the works.  The loans are expected to take four years to repay.  Donations can still be made to the fund by way of an £80 donation to have a chair in the church dedicated in memory of a loved one which will then have a small plaque placed on it.  contact Mr Adie Ella 01955 603747 or business 01955 602930 to make a donation

24 May 03
Church Ready For Another 100 Years

The finishing touches were being added ready for the first service in the main church since the renovations began.  The organ was being tuned and is now complemented by the latest hi-tech computers to enhance services.  A big turn out is expected on Sunday 25 MayThe cost of the renovations has exceeded original estimates but fund raising goes on and undaunted the congregation have set about finding the money to finalise everything.   The new chairs are available to be dedicated to a loved one as part of this exercise.

5 March 03
Renovations and Developments
For over 50 years the Office-bearers of the congregation have been concerned the Pulteneytown Parish Church had such a narrow entrance vestibule. It faces north and there was not even sufficient room to erect double-doors. Further, the church is in an important conservation area. A few years ago two ideas came together. the suggestion was made that if the wall and railings were removed there would be more space available. The second suggestion was that a glass fronted Court yard/Reception area should be constructed. The plans were welcomed by the local Planning Officer and commended by Historic Scotland's building inspector. This is now almost complete and is greatly appreciated by the congregation.
The entire renovation package should be completed by May. It involves a new heating system for the Church, new disabled facilities, major alterations to the chancel area, alterations to allow much better visibility from the gallery, new lighting, a new audio-visual control unit, complete re-decoration, and individual seats down-stairs. there will be a happy blending of the old and the new with the restoration of the original doors. They will remain open and passers-by will see beyond them to a new window with the millennium logo with the Cross and Pentecost flames around it and the wording "Jesus, Yesterday, To-day, Forever."
Chairs, chairs, chairs...........
The removal of the down-stairs pews will make the church much more flexible for the variety of services and activities of a progressive congregation. They will also add to the comfort of the congregation! The congregation are inviting donations towards the cost of the 270 chairs which will be purchased. A donation of £80 will roughly cover the cost of a chair. A person donating £80 will be entitled to have, if they wish, a small plaque on the chair in memory of a loved one. To help with this project please contact Mr Adie Ella Tel 01955 602930 (work) or 01955 603746 (home).


Altnacriche Trip

pulteneytownchurchsign.jpg (28408 bytes)      pulteneytownchuchextension.jpg (33957 bytes)

Work Progress 29 March 2002

New Work At Front Of Church 10 February 2002

Church Contacts

Our Mission Statement
"To help people of all ages be disciples of Jesus and be part of a loving Christian community"

Sunday Service:11.30 am Creche Available
Evening Service 6.30pm

Thrumster Church

Pulteneytown and Thrumster Church
The congregation is a union of a town and a country Church. The church at Thrumster, in the crofting community five miles soth of Wick, is a most attractive church. Services are held there every week at 3.00pm.  It was renovated for its Centenary in 2000. Pulteneytown church was for part of its life known as St Andrew's Church but is now known by its original title.  The morning service at 11.30 is an All-age Service.  The Sunday Club (for children and young people) meets at 10.45am and the members attend part of the services.  The evening service is 6.30pm. The emphasis of the teaching at Services is the appreciation of the bible's teaching to every-day life.

A church catering for young people.......
Today Pultenytown Parish Church is well known for its Children's and Youth Activities. the annual Holiday Club is now one of the largest and best organised in Scotland with around 230 young people enjoying a week in which the congregation organise over 40 hours of activities.
The Youth Group is the largest in the far north and their away-weekends at Aviemore attract great interest. the recent long week-end in February saw 28 young people (mainly Senior High Schoolers) enjoy an action packed time of indoor and outdoor activities.

The Minister
The current minister is the Rev. Bill Wallace.
Bill worked as a Dentist before being called to the Ministry. After he served for three years in St George's Tron Church in the centre of Glasgow before going to Adis Ababa where he worked as a Missionary Dentist and was Pastor of the International Church. He has been involved in a wide range of activities in the local community, chairing the local Health Council and the Schools Council. He served for four years as the Convenor of the church of Scotland's board of Ministry.
Bill can be contacted on 01955 603166

Today Pulteneytown & Thrumster Parish Church is a progressive and developing congregation making use of many innovative methods modern technology has made available to present the truths of the Christian message to young and not so young, at the wide variety of meetings and at Public Worship which fill the church each week.
There is a time for fellowship over a cup of tea/coffee/juice twice a month after the evening service in Pulteneytown.  Both churches have a hearing Loop System for the hard of hearing and there is easy access for any disabled worshippers.

A Short History Of The Church

Click here for Church of Scotland web site.
Pulteneytown Parish Church Holiday Club (Megaquest 99)
More Wick Pictures

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