You’ll know that this is “Within these walls let no one be a stranger”. In fact this is just the last part of a welcome notice which for many years appeared on the front cover of the Review starting from issue 1 back in the 1940s. It read “In Christ’s name we give you a cordial welcome to this House of God, to its worship and work, its comfort and its peace. Within these walls let no one be a stranger.”

The word “cordial” now seems rather old fashioned and we certainly no longer use it in our welcome notices. After Glenorchy and the Beacon Congregational Churches united in 1965, the welcome notice seems to have disappeared but the last part came back again in more recent times. We’re not sure who wrote the original notice but I suspect it was the then Editor, John (Jack) Borlase Braid. Mr. Braid kept a radio shop on Exeter Road and was a Deacon, later a Life Deacon. He sang tenor in our choir and as a youngster I remember his eyebrows going higher and higher as the music got higher! He certainly had literary ability as well as some very decided opinions.

Many in the church were shocked or annoyed when he wrote a piece entitled “Ichabod” when we were holding a Square Dance in our hall to raise funds towards the purchase of our Manse in Belle Vue Road. (Ichabod means “the glory of the house has departed”) Quite what he thought happened at folk dancing is hard to imagine, or maybe it was just that he disapproved of dancing in general? At that time it all seemed very innocuous. Square dancing had become popular in England after Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh had taken part in a visit to Canada.

David Lee