PICTURES: Candlelight service sends festive message of love, hope and peace
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AFTER two years of Covid-hit Christmases, there was a real feeling of festive joy when a candlelight festive service came to Buckie's Cluny Square.
The sub-zero temperatures did little to deter people of all ages coming along and joining in some favourite festive tunes.
Leading the singing were members of the Buckie and District Community Choir, who brought the audience together with an outstanding performance encapsulating the festive mood.
In keeping with theme of the evening there were not one but three new festive trees in Cluny Square – love, hope and peace. In the run-up to the service, members of the public were invited to buy message baubles which were hung on the trees.
Getting the proceedings under way were the choir, who entered the square each carry advent candles which were placed by the three trees. Later in the service, to the tune of Away in a Manger, members of the public were invited to come forward and lay their own lit candles at the trees.
Performing the dedication service for the trees was special guest for the evening Andrew Simpson, the Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire, with his address being followed by a community sing-a-long of Still the Night, which brought the service to a close.
Behind the candlelight service were award-winning community group Buckie's Roots.
The group's chairwoman, Meg Jamieson, explained the inspiration behind the project.
She said: "We wanted to add some special Christmas spirit and bring the community together after the events of the past few years.
"The idea came to us back in the summer when we heard the Buckie Christmas Lights Committee tree was not fit for purpose after last year's storms.
So back in the summer we concreted three large pipes into the flower beds to hold the trees of love, hope and peace.
The Buckie community choir led the service in the north-west quadrant of the square with special guest His Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire Andrew Simpson. The choir performed a special arrangement and the community were able to join in some Christmas carols.
"In the past it was a great event to see the Christmas tree going up in the square and many a song was sung round it at Christmas. It was great to once again have a community celebration in the square."
There was a warm Buckie welcome for Mr Simpson, who thanked all those involved in making the event possible as well as the audience who had turned out on a very cold evening.
In his dedication address, he said: "It's fantastic as we look beyond the busyness of Christmas to see something of the meaning of Christmas.
"Christmas is a special time and it's special for different reasons; I'm always very conscious when we gather in groups like this that each of us has our experiences, our own thoughts. For some of us it's a time of great celebration, great happiness – for the first time for three years we can come together with families, with others to enjoy the celebrations.
"For some, there's the excitement of maybe a new baby, being part of a family, a new life looking forward to the future.
"But I'm also conscious that for some people this is a difficult time. Maybe, as someone said [to me] earlier, there's been a loss, a family bereavement over the last few months or years and it's something that makes this time of year very different and sometimes difficult and we're all very conscious this year as well of the challenges of the increasing prices, the increasing costs of different things.
"That's why it's fantastic to come together with these three trees – the trees of hope, of peace and of love – and to think about the meaning of the Christmas story. As we've been singing of the birth of the baby Jesus, his parents, were away from their home, they were in a strange place, they didn't have anywhere to stay, they faced rejection and they, perhaps more than anybody else in this story, tell us about hope, tell u about promise and tell us about faith.
"It's great to be reminded of those themes and those features of the Christmas story and remember in all the busyness of the next few days that as we enjoy people's company and we enjoy the activities let us remember also the meaning behind it, the meaning of the faith, of hope, of promise and of love."
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