Mr Headrick's Congregation

With all the bills for the restored church paid and a small surplus in hand the confident trustees and elders turned their attention to the lack of hall accommodation which had greatly limited congregational life in recent years. In 1925 the decision was taken to build new on the corner of Brown Street and Mansionhouse Road just a short distance from the church and soon fund raising was underway with a target of around £3,000. Once again Jeffrey Waddell was the architect and he produced plans for a suite of two linked halls to accommodate 400 and 100 people respectively along with a kitchen and several other small rooms. This would provide space for a host of social activities as well as housing the Sunday School with 455 children, senior and junior bible classes, Young Men's and Women's Guilds and other groups which were formed from time to time to answer the needs of the growing congregation. The highlight of the fund raising events was a grand bazaar held in Falkirk Town Hall on 14th and 15th October 1927 which attracted thousands of visitors and raised over £1000 towards the target. The Souvenir Guide to the bazaar, price one shilling, ran to ninety-six pages which gives some indication of the scale of the undertaking.

The new halls, pictured in the drawing on the right, were ready for occupation in 1928 and early in April there was a formal opening service led by Rev A M Dunnet, Home Mission Deputy of the Church of Scotland. Once again there were hymns of praise, much celebration, many words of thanks and a congregational soiree. The total cost was £3,300 and once again the congregation had greatly enhanced their facilities while remaining free of debt. It was a staggering achievement at a time when the spectre of unemployment that would so disfigure the decade to come was beginning to make an appearance in a parish almost wholly dependent on working people and their generosity.

But amid all the fund-raising, restoration and new building the day-to-day work of the parish had continued often in makeshift or borrowed accommodation, and the records which survive recall the routine as well as the more memorable developments of the period. In early 1929 for example the lack of sufficient communion cups and the need to borrow from Larbert, led to a request from 'several ladies of the congregation' for the purchase of trays of individual communion glasses. After trying out a tray from Bainsford and one from St Andrews in Falkirk,

Camelon acquired its own set with the common cup retained for those who preferred the more traditional approach. Another interesting development was the transfer of the Ist Camelon Boys Brigade from the care of Miss Bessie Wilson of South Bantaskine to the church thirty years after she established the company. With adequate hall accommodation now available she felt the time for a move was right and the Session were delighted to accept the responsibility.

On a grander scale the Church of Scotland was engaged the same year at national level in the final stages of the coming together of presbyterian churches split asunder by the secessions and disruptions of the 18th and 19th centuries. In Camelon this welcome reunion meant that the United Free Churches of lrving and Trinity would become parish churches within the established church and all three would have new constitutions and changed districts. After lengthy discussions the Session agreed unanimously to support the union and this was later confirmed by the whole congregation. Several important changes followed of course; firstly there was the question of a new name for the congregation since Camelon Parish Church was no longer acceptable. In October 1929 the name St John's was adopted with little apparent difficulty and no record of any dispute or alternative suggestion has survived. The trustees who had handled the financial affairs of the congregation since 1853 were replaced by a Congregational Board consisting of the session plus nine other members including Miss Scott and Miss McCallum, the first women to share in the formal management of the parish in its history. The Minister held a number of meetings with his colleagues in lrving and Trinity Churches and as a result new areas were mapped out which divided the old Camelon parish into three districts to be attached to each church for pastoral purposes. Predictably though the loyalty of families long tied to their own church remained unchanged as far as worship and social involvement were concerned.

In February 1933 the Presbytery made a quinquennial visit to St John's and their report was very heartening indeed when one considers the decade of almost continuous change which proceeded it. The visiting ministers were

'...struck with the great proportion of men at worship........the Sunday school must be one of the largest in the Presbytery but the Boys Brigade and Women's Guild are also very strong. When the Presbytery really decide to undertake a Forward Movement we know no other parish better fitted to give effective support. The Minister and people should be congratulated on the accomplishment of a big task'

During the 1930s the large increase in housing in the Carmuirs area further stretched resources and in 1934 the parish appointed Rev Duncan Williamson as assistant minister at an annual salary of £1! The outbreak of war once again in 1939 saw the new halls commandeered by the army in the early months and a range of minor problems relating to blackouts and other air raid precautions. More importantly it meant the departure of many young men of the parish for service overseas including the organist Mr Thomson who left Camelon in October 1939. The Women's Guild, like their predecessors in 1914, rallied to the cause and for much of the war their efforts were devoted to raising funds, preparing parcels and despatching these 'comforts' to the troops wherever they were. On 9th November 1941 St John's held a belated centenary service conducted by Rev Dr Archie Main in the morning and Mr Headrick in the afternoon, before a large and enthusiastic congregation, but with the country in the grip of war and the prospect of victory looking increasingly remote at that stage, it was not the time for large or exuberant celebrations. The following year the legacy of the earlier conflict laid the Minister low for many months and Mr Headrick spent some time in hospital recovering from an operation. His congregation soldiered on and together they reached the end of the war in reasonable good heart. The military occupation of the hall left it in such a poor condition that substantial compensation of over £500 was sought and eventually obtained from the reluctant authorities. The years after the war are dotted here and there with little illuminating glimpses of life in the congregation. In December 1945 both Kirk Session and congregation like their fellows throughout the land voted overwhelmingly against the introduction of women elders and nearly two decades would pass before the Church at national level was able to reverse the decision. In January 1946 a welcome home social was held for 60 members of the parish returning from active service and in 1950 the family of John Erskine thirty-four years the Session Clerk until his death in 1942, presented the church with two solid silver communion cups as a memorial. As a result one of the old Camelon cups was sent to the fledgling parish of Chogoria in Kenya for the use of the Church of Scotland missioner there.

In November 1950 Mr Headrick's wife of thirty years died very suddenly and the shock of this loss combined with his own deteriorating health led to the Minister's final illness and death in June 1951. He was just 58 years of age and his loss was keenly felt by all those he had served for over three decades. The tribute from the session summed up the feelings of all:

'The Kirk Session desire to place on record their deep appreciation of the faithful ministry of their late Minister, Pastor and friend the Rev Robert Headrick who passed away on14thJune 1951. Mr Headrick came to Camelon St John's - which was his only charge -in 1921 all throughout his ministry of just over thirty years used his many qualities of mind and heart in serving his Master through the service of his fellow men. Mr Headrick always gave of his best. He look a keen and active interest in the many and varied activities of this congregation. He was a wise counselor, a trusted friend, an able scholar, a good preacher and a kind and sympathetic visitor. We give thanks to God for this Christian Warrior, who in spite of failing health and the sudden loss of his wife fought a good fight, finished his course and kept the faith.'