Plenary, 08 Jun 2005

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Official Report 428KB pdf

---

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. Our first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Ronnie Johnstone, the minister of Thurso West Church of Scotland.

A few weeks ago in Iceland, I was at the site of the oldest European Parliament. Today, I am your guest in one of the newest Parliaments—or an old Parliament re-established; it depends how you see things.

Behind the altar of Dunkeld cathedral are several memorials. Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch, lies there, but it is at another memorial that I pause. Part of the inscription reads as follows:

"To the memory of Rev John Robb who, on a voyage for the benefit of his health, perished by the wreck of the Forfarshire Steamship off the Fern Islands".

Robb was just 40 years of age and the minister of Dunkeld for two years. He was ill—if ever a cure was worse than the disease. Seen from the perspective of Dunkeld, as the plaque says, he had the

"Respect, affection, Gratitude and sorrow of his deeply affected friends and flock."

Change the scene to Lindisfarne. The Forfarshire was the ship out to which Grace Darling and her father rowed that stormy night to save at least some of the passengers, even if not John Robb. Change the point of view. See the sudden insweep of the tide and the treacherous sandbanks and see not failure and tragedy but life-risking courage and skill.

Change the scene again to Thurso some 16 years ago: a new lifeboat named the Queen Mother, and she was to launch it. My point of view that day: fear of seasickness. I was humble and proud to dedicate the lifeboat, but delighted to discover that there was no room for me on board for the ceremonial birl round the bay.

I felt guilty as I watched the Queen Mother stride forward and go aboard, but I was glad as I watched the Queen Mother—the boat, that is, not the Queen Mother herself—do the nautical equivalent of handbrake turns in Thurso bay.

The guard of honour that day was the new Longhope lifeboat crew, whose predecessors had been lost some years earlier. Grace Darling and the Forfarshire are one of the founding legends of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Her bravery encouraged others to do as she did and leads many still to support the rescue agencies.

So, John Robb and the Forfarshire—two different points of view of the story; each one of them valid but part of a greater truth. Bring these differing points of view together and get a fuller, better picture. But you already know that, for the value of any Parliament lies in its bringing together and respecting differing points of view.

May God bless you in all your efforts for the common good.