New challenges await for Moray Salvation Army couple
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IT is time to move on to new challenges for local Salvation Army officers Majors Bruce and Isobel Smith.
October 31 will see the couple hold their last Sunday service bringing the curtain down on a total of five and a half years in the area. They first of all assumed the mantle of the Findochty Corps and then, after a year, took over the reins at the Buckie Corps when the incumbent officer, Territorial Envoy Colin Hanover, retired.
However, their extended five year-posting is now at an end.
Awaiting the Smiths is Inverness Corps where they will also act as chaplains to Resettlement, a scheme which aims to help people keep their house or flat tenancies.
Bruce said: "It was time for us to move on, basically, and we're ready for the new challenges in Inverness, which will be a very different environment to the one we've known for the last five and a half years.
"We'll also be working with people we already know, which is something we're looking forward. to.
"Living in Inverness is going to be handy for us as we've got family in Orkney, Dundee and Glasgow."
There was a very personal reason for the Smiths being keen to take the Findochty posting, as Isobel explained.
"Findochty was where I started school when my parents were the Salvation Army officers here at that time.
"One of the biggest things I'll miss is the sense of community here, the way people rally round. I'll miss the fact that everybody knows you here and in particular I'll miss the kids at Findochty Primary. Due to the Covid regulations I haven't seen them for 18 months but hopefully I'll get a chance to see them before we leave for Inverness."
Reflecting on his time in Findochty and Buckie, Bruce said: "The last five and a half years have been a time of an incredible amount of change for us.
"We started off with the Findochty Corps and a year later took over Buckie, as well.
"I took on a teaching role at the Salvation Army College in London and we opened café churches in Banff (it's now in Macduff) and Elgin.
"One of the biggest projects we started was the Messy Church in Findochty, which was going very well before the pandemic hit."
The Smiths will perhaps be widely remembered in the community for their role in establishing Buckie food bank, drawing on their experience running a food bank at a previous posting in Airdrie. The food bank, and its dedicated team of volunteers, were to come into their own when Covid forced the country to enter the uncharted and uncertain waters of lockdown last March.
Their efforts were to earn the food bank an award from the Lord Lieutenants of Banffshire and Moray in recognition of the vital role they played in keeping some of the most vulnerable people in the community fed.
"Before Covid the food bank was as busy as you'd expect for a place this size," continued Bruce.
"However, none of us could have anticipated what the last 18 months have been like.
"When the lockdown hit demand shot up by three or four times, neither of us had seen anything like it.
"At the moment we're just as busy as we were during the lockdown. People are saying the pandemic and its effects are tailing off but we're as busy as ever.
"Just now we're seeing more single people than families contacting us but when the £20 cut to Universal Credit begins to bite more families may return to the food bank – time will tell.
"It was very satisfying being able to help so many people and we're very proud of the team of volunteers at the food bank. We're also very grateful for the generosity and support shown by the community.
"There was a lot of thinking on our feet during the lockdown about how we could do things and how we could do them safely. I think our experience helped pull us through."
Although the couple are set to leave the food bank will continue to operate as normal. Those who feel they need to the services of Buckie food bank should call the Salvation Army hall on (01542) 832790 in the first instance and leave a message. Contact can also be made via the Buckie Salvation Army Facebook page.
People requiring food parcels are asked to make their request by 2pm on a Tuesday to ensure they receive it that week.
Both lockdowns saw places of worship closed, leaving many members of the congregation, especially the old and the vulnerable, isolated. It was a challenge that the Corps, along with other local churches, had to rise to.
Isobel said: "During lockdown we did a weekly newsletter, called Strange Times, to give people a bit of encouragement.
"It contained the passage of Scripture we were looking at in our online worship and hymns. This was delivered along with the War Cry.
"Since things have begun opening up we've been taking it gradually – there has been a lot of reassurance needed. The most important thing is the safety of our people."
No replacement has been appointed as yet for the Smiths.
