100th Anniversary “Telegrams”
The Blackwood Uniting Church and its community played an enormous part of our growing up. Whilst the church was well established, we lived in new residential areas alongside other young families.
We were part of a wonderful tapestry of Youth and Bible Study groups, music bands and drama groups – fashioning our own expression of faith with great exuberance. We formed lifelong friendships, our own ongoing romance included, and after having the first two of our four children, moved out of the area.
We still think warmly of our time at Blackwood and greet folk similarly celebrating with our ongoing affection.
Paul and Sue Tulloch
Hi Friends,
I heard you have a celebration coming up and were looking for some memorabilia! Here is a photo from my ordination (Feb 28, 1984). There may be a few around who remember that far back!
Blackwood nurtured me through my youth group days and into my call to ministry. There was financial support, spiritual nurture, practical advice and sports to play. It was a wonderful church to be nurtured in. The photo shows the gift of a set of stoles which was given to me on the occasion and which I still use. My ministry has taken me from Adelaide to Darwin to Sydney to London, back to Sydney, to Geneva, back to Darwin and soon to Perth. What an amazing journey it has been! Maybe one day I’ll even return to Adelaide. Please continue to be the nurturing community which is capable of inspiring people to follow their call to ministry – wherever it may lead. Have a great celebration!
Andrew
Rev Dr Andrew Williams
Minister of the Word
Darwin Memorial Uniting Church
Thank you for the invitation to the anniversary celebrations at Blackwood.
The time I spent at Blackwood as part of my training for ministry was such a significant time in my life, helping me learn about ministry and introducing me to so many wonderful people. I look back on it with fondness and gratitude.
I will not be able to attend the celebrations as I will be preaching at Marion-Warradale and we will be having a shared lunch that day, as well as a congregational meeting.
Please pass on my greetings and my apologies.
Blessings
Rev Dianne Bury
To the Blackwood Uniting Church community of 2021
Greetings to you from Jeju Island, South Korea.
It is a sobering thought, considering that the invitation to contribute in some way to your Centenary celebrations comes from friends I shared significant times with as part of the BUC community almost half of that century ago.
Looking back now, I suspect I am not alone in remembering a different person to the one I now know after so many years. It is inevitable that there will be change in our lives, the extent of which is a defining factor in how and where our journey takes us. Learning when to accept or seek out change, and when to hold firm to those things we trust as unassailable truths.
The several years of my late teens in the 1970s were a period when Blackwood Uniting Church was my source of identity. It provided, through the friendship and camaraderie of some remarkable people, a place where I felt a sense of belonging. Through various groups including MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) Youth Groups 1, 2 and 3, Open Chapter and William Duarf Theatre Company, I found an outlet to connect with people who shared a sense of community and shared values.
In the years since, my journey of identifying forks in the road to either change or continuity has taken me away from institutional religion. I have not, since those days almost fifty years ago, thought of myself as Christian. Instead, my path has led to a self which is informed by that ethical and moral foundation but equally touched by the many influences encountered along the way. This has included communities, relationships, professions, philosophies and passions that all coloured and textured the person I have become.
Remembering that young man in the pews and back rooms of Blackwood Uniting Church, some of the dreams and aspirations that took vague form back then, I now savour as accomplishments. It’s impossible to measure the extent to which outcomes are due to specific influence, but I have no doubt that the foundation stone laid at Blackwood Uniting Church a century ago was a significant part of my own foundation as a person when I felt the security and strength of its presence, fifty years later.
To my dear friends, Elisabeth and Mark Williams, who invited this contribution, I extend my gratitude and love for their central role in the BUC community I remember and cherish.
Though paths may diverge and philosophies of life evolve in different ways, good people remain just that. To them and the Blackwood Uniting Church community of 2021, I send my best wishes.
David Kelly
Jeju-do, South Korea
October 25th 2021