Ex-moderator Remembers


Bill Hewitt was Moderator of the Church of Scotland from May 2009 to May 2010, and he recently visited Gryffe Valley Rotary Club to share some of his memories of his year in office.


Bill originally hailed from Kilmarnock and was the 3rd Moderator to have been educated at Kilmarnock Academy. He was minister at Elderslie Kirk for some 16 years and is now at Greenock Westburn. He described the Moderator selection process (no white smoke involved apparently) and how initially he was flattered to have been one of 50 candidates and ultimately how surprised and honoured he was to have been the one elected.


However several factors ensured that he remained very firmly with his feet on the ground. He told of the pomp and majesty of the Ceremony of the Keys, with a drive to Holyrood Palace in the Queens limo, complete with her pennant, for an overnight stay – but next day he had to take the bus back! He also noted that his entry in Wikipedia as a notable citizen of Greenock appeared just below that of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi !


Bill explained that the duties of a Moderator are straightforward – to preside as chairman of the General Assembly for ones first week in office, and then to act as ambassador for the church for the remainder of the year. It may only have been a 12 month period, but Bill certainly packed in a huge amount and could only touch on a few of the highlights during his talk. He told of oversees visits to church projects in many countries including India, South Africa, Palestine and Israel and briefly described some of the great work being carried out there (avid Advertizer readers may remember some of them mentioned last month when Bill spoke to the Johnstone Rotary club).


Bill took questions on several current church issues – he may be an ex- Moderator but his answers confirmed that he was still very much an involved and committed member of the Church of Scotland. He is a well kent face in local church, golfing and Rotary circles and our community is indeed fortunate to him as an active member. Amongst his many talents he is a renowned Burns speaker, and the club is delighted that he has agreed to deliver the Immortal memory at its next Burns Supper ( 14th January at the River Inn – a date for your diary). The photo shows Bill flanked by President John Tuck and Adam McCartney who introduced him.


Fraud risk from lost Mobile Phones


Three in ten mobile phone users are putting themselves at risk of fraud by storing personal information such as PIN numbers, passwords and home addresses on their phones, says Which? Mobile.


This is especially concerning as almost nine million people in the UK have lost a mobile phone in the last five years and around 5.7 million have had their mobile stolen.


Which? Mobile recommends people protect themselves against potential mobile-related fraud by taking simple steps, such as ensuring phones are mobile PIN or password protected and disguising any personal information.


If a phone goes missing, the owner should immediately contact their provider to put a block on it, preventing thieves from running up big bills. Most smartphones offer apps or services – such as the iPhone app ‘Find my iPhone’ – that let the user locate their handset if it goes missing. Some also lock the phone remotely, or even remotely wipe all the data from the handset to stop thieves accessing personal information.


For more tips on improving your mobile phone security go to http://conversation.which. co.uk/mobile/mobile-phones/what-to-do-if- you-lose-your-mobile-phone


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Kilbarchan Camera Club


Our next meeting on May 10th will be an outdoor ‘re-photography’ photo-shoot. Using some of the photographs from the 1900-1930’s as a starting point we will re-visit the same areas to take modern photos of those same scenes to capture the changes which have happened in the past 100 years.


Meet outside the Old Library Centre at 7.30pm on Tuesday 10th May.


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