were included in the sale, and although the church had not intended them to

be included, they did not think the matter worth contesting.

While the Parish Church was undergoing extensive repairs and renovation

the other church was used for church services. Included in the major improve-

ments of 1936 were the installation of electricity and the renovating of the

heating system. The old pulpit in the centre of the church was removed and

a new pulpit was put in the northeast corner. The former pulpit was a large

two-tier one which had been built into the wall. When it was removed the

wall between the two east windows where the pulpit had stood was panelled.

A platform was built and the choir seats and the organ, which had been in front

of the pulpit, were put in the southeast corner across from the pulpit. A new

communion table, as well as the new pulpit, were given to the church by the

Ladies’ Work Party, and these as well as the new panelling were all in a light

wood, and it was decided to strip the dark stain from the pews to blend with

the new wood. In an article in the St. Andrews Citizen in 1937 reporting on

a sale of work held to raise funds for the completion of the scheme of redecor-

ation of the Parish Church in Strathkinness, which had raised £42, it stated

‘now the church had been beautified it would be the finest church of its size

in the Presbytery’.

In addition to the alterations to the church there were as well some altera-

tions to the manse, including the installation of a bathroom which Mr. McLeod

had first asked for in 1909. The alterations and improvements were mainly

financed by a loan from Mr. John Brown and a grant of £75 from the Orphat

Fund.

At the time of the union of the two churches there were 419 names on the

new register; the Sunday School, the Bible Class and the choir were all

flourishing. By the outbreak of the war in 1939 the number on the register

had dropped to 373. Also, in 1939, Mr. Patterson announced that he was

going on active service as an army chaplain. A series of supply preachers

visited Strathkinness until he returned on leave in 1941, and in 1942 he

relinquished his duties as army chaplain, due to ill health. He remained in

Strathkinness until he was called to the Scots Kirk in Bombay in 1946.

During the years of 1940 to 1945 the amount of money raised for the

schemes of the church was greater than had ever been achieved before, and

in 1945 the sum of £62, the greatest ever raised, was collected. These levels

were not maintained, however, and in 1947 the amount raised for church

schemes was down to £27.

It was hard, during the war years, to find anybody to do jobs which had

earlier been done without too much difficulty. It was not easy to find

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