29th March, 2026 - Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and in normal circumstances the Procession of Palms would be led by Annie the donkey, symbolic of the colt that Jesus rode into Jerusalem before his crucifixion. Unfortunately this morning the weather turned very nasty with rain and a strong wind so the decision was made not to process from the Parish Hall up to the church. However Annie was able to follow the choir into the church led by the Rector’s church warden, James Christie. James has been riding horses for many years and Annie was quite at ease with him walking up the aisle as everyone sang the traditional Palm Sunday hymn, All Glory, Laud and Honour.

Annie left the church for the duration of the Palm Sunday service to graze in the gardens, but returned to lead everyone out at the end. She is pictured below with James and her owner Alan.

24th March, 2026 - Watchmen: The Skill of Cutting Peat

The Watchmen had a very interesting presentation this evening, again given by George and David Rea .  George and David once cut peat on a hill near Slemish called Carriff Moss, Carnalbanagh, and in the presentation George talked about the whole process of preparing the bog, from removing the top layer of vegetation to access the peat below, cutting the peat with a variety of different spades and techniques, laying it out to dry and, dependent on the weather, taking it home a few weeks later to store, ready to burn during the long winter months ahead. George introduced some unique terminology in his talk, words and terms such as the scraw - the top sod of vegetation on the bank of peat that needs to be removed first, flaughter - a tool used to cut into the scraw, peat coom - the debris left behind on the floor of a peat shed and slean - the traditional name for a peat spade. Many of the words are derived from old Irish words. The presentation had many interesting photographs of very happy times spent working up at the ‘moss’ with their father James and a number of other local and colourful characters from the Glens of Antrim.  It was very much a family activity as frequently the boys were joined by their respective wives, Hilary and Barbara. There was also a small display of some of the tools used for cutting and moving the peat. A thoroughly enjoyable talk which was enjoyed by everyone.

11th March, 2026 - Kilbride Parish Church Ladies’ Group: Hymns with Tim

The Church of Ireland church hymnal is full of many much-loved hymns that have been enjoyed by hymn singers the world over for centuries. This evening, at the Ladies’ Group meeting, Tim Wilson (church organist and choir director) gave a talk on the numerous hymns that have been written by a number of famous composers such as the Wesleys and Henry Francis Lyte before concentrating on a number of well-known ladies that included Cecil Frances Alexander and Fanny Crosby, both well known hymn writers. Tim explained some of the musical technicalities in how, for example, the psalms were given a metrical structure to allow them to be easily sung in church. Tim is the font of all knowledge when it comes to hymns and he gave the history of the composers themselves and what probably motivated them to write such inspirational words set to such beautiful music. It was a fascinating evening and the large crowd in the church thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the hymn writers and singing the hymns too.

20th February, 2026 - Watchmen: It’s all done by remote control!

Parishioners David and George Rea have for many years been collecting all manner of remote controlled models that include cars, helicopters, aircraft and in more recent years drones, and this evening they brought a selection of models down to the Parish Hall to show to the men’s group. After a short presentation of photographs going back some years David and George explained how they have kept abreast of new technology as it became available and this was evident when comparing many of the models they had on display. From very basic and tiny engines on some of the early aircraft to one with a small jet engine and then on to the modern drone. George was even able to fly a tiny model aircraft in the confines of the hall before taking a group photograph using the high-resolution camera on his drone. An extremely interesting evening for everyone.

11th February, 2026 - Kilbride Parish Church Ladies’ Group: Visit of Brenda Campbell from the RSPB

This evening the guest speaker at the Ladies’ Group meeting was Brenda Campbell from the RSPB. Brenda has been a member for many years and she explained how she came to join and entertained everyone with stories and videos of her work with the charity.
A few years ago Brenda was involved with the project to bring corncrakes back to Rathlin Island, transporting nettles of all things to create shelter for them. Closer to home the RSPB has been working with local volunteers and communities for a number of years to encourage swifts to return to Ballyclare. Brenda had put up swift boxes on her own house and seven years later was finally rewarded with the birds finally nesting in them.
Brenda carries her little pocket camera with her everywhere and she was able to show the ladies brilliant footage of dolphins swimming alongside the Rathlin ferry, a stoat toying with a large rabbit at the Belfast's Window on Wildlife (WOW) centre in Belfast and best of all, an owl landing on a fence post and then turning its head 180 degrees to look straight at the camera!
A very enjoyable evening was finished off with light refreshments.

11th January, 2026 - Holy Baptism

It was a wonderful service in St Bride’s this morning as two children were baptised, witnessed by family, friends and the church family. Rev. John McClure welcomed the Dubois family and their friends to the church for this very important day in the lives of their children. The boy was baptised Bobbie Hunter and the little girl was baptised Millie Jeanette following which Rev. John took both them up the aisle as he welcomed them into the church. The children are pictured above with their parents, big brother Freddie, godparents, grandfather and Rev. John McClure.

4th January, 2026 - Winter has Arrived!

St Bride’s was generously coated in a blanket of snow this morning as church wardens arrived to open up ahead of the first communion service of 2026. It was certainly bitterly cold outside but warm and cosy inside the church. Many local churches decided to cancel services this morning given the weather conditions but the service went ahead in Kilbride and a reasonable number of parishioners was able to make the journey on roads that were largely clear where gritters had been.