Lord High Commissioner visits Colston Milton Parish Church

Colston Milton Parish Church welcomed the Rt Hon Lord Hodge, the Lord High Commissioner for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on Tuesday.

Parish minister Christopher Rowe said: "The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is an annual, sort of church parliament and it always happens at this time of the year.

“Every year, the Queen sends a personal representative to observe it. On previous years, it has been Princess Anne, Prince William, but often it’s a senior person in whom she has invested that personal trust.

“Rather than spending all of his time sitting in the assembly, he turns up for the beginning and the end, and in between he visits the churches of Scotland on the ground, to get a sense of what is going on.

“So, this year, his office found me and called to say that they would like to come out to Milton."

The Lord High Commissioner shaking hands with Glasgow's Lord Provost

Reverend Christopher Rowe

The Lord High Commissioner visited the Colston Milton Parish Churhc

He heard a presentation of the local community

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He gave the deputy president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdon a tour of the premises and a presentation of the work they do with the community.

The Lord Hig Commissioner, Reverend Christopher Lowe and Glasgow's Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren

The visit was during the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

The meeting took place on Tuesday

The minister hopes the community made a lasting impression

The minister added: “I think it’s an honour and a privilege, because you get to express what you are doing locally to a person with a national reach and ultimately, he reports back to the Queen.

“Milton is often quite a forgotten place, so it is nice to think that there will be someone from the corridors of power getting a sense of what life is like here.

“He also heard a general overview of my time here. I have been here for 14 years, so some of the work that I have been doing, being quite honest about the challenges because we are a small congregation now, we have an uncertain and difficult future in terms of shrinking numbers and less people able to do things.

“I would like him to go away with a sense that Milton is a good place with lots of good stuff going in it but there are lots of challenges and we could do with support and Government policies could make a big difference on people’s lives.

"It would be really nice to hear the voice of the poorest clearly and compassionately in high Government circles."