Mr. Bennett retired in 1977 and the Rev. Douglas Galbraith was elected

the new minister to succeed him. Mr. Galbraith developed the church news

sheet into a church and village news sheet which became the focus of village

news and information. After having declined an earlier invitation in 1974 to

join the St. Andrews Council of Churches, Strathkinness joined in 1978 and is,

to date, the only rural church in the Council, which is an informal group of

churches of all denominations and which is active in the community both

locally and further afield. Amongst other things it runs the Lunch Group

for Senior Citizens, it sponsors the In-As-Much programme to give deprived

children from Edinburgh or Glasgow a holiday in St. Andrews, and it sponsors

a holiday for both Catholic and Protestant children together in St. Andrews

every year.

When the ceiling of the church was in such a dangerous state that it was

in danger of collapsing in 1980 church services were held in the Church Hall

and there was a communion service held in the old United Free Church on May

the 4th, the first communion service held there for fifty years, and the first

united communion service ever to be held there.

Later that year a new minister, the Rev. James Hamilton from Edinburgh,

was appointed to the new linked charge of Dairsie, Kemback and Strathkinness.

Dairsie and Kemback had already been linked a short time earlier and

Strathkinness being added to it made a parish of a more financially viable

size, although the amount of work for a minister, without help, was vastly

increased. It was decided that the manse of the new parish should be the

one in Dairsie and so the manse in Strathkinness was sold and its name changed

to ‘Strathkinness House’. In the short time Mr. Hamilton was minister he

made an effort to encourage members who had not been attending church to

make a ‘fresh start’, and he stressed that although many people gave generously

the average (including members who did not go regularly) was under twenty

pence and the income was far short of the expenditure. Mr. Hamilton died

very suddenly only a year after coming to the new linked charge.

The Rev. Alexander Strickland from Arran was inducted as minister in

October, 1981. The Kirk Session expressed concern about the work-load

put upon the minister and asked for elders to try to do more to lighten his

load, and permission from the Presbytery was given to allow retired ministers

to help in taking services. Retired ministers, visiting ministers and divinity

students have taken services in Strathkinness as well as in Dairsie and Kemback.

The three Kirk Sessions decided to hold two joint services every year, and

there has been a joint communion service. These joint services enable the

members of all three churches to meet together and help to create a feeling of

fellowship and unity.

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