Northfield Church History, The Story so far...

Here we will look into the history fo Northfield Church and the surrounding area. Reserach into the hisotry fo the Church in Northfield has been carried out by our former web site owner. We are always looking for interesting articles regarding the past history of our parish, so if you have some old photos or just some information please pass them onto us.

In 2001 we celebrated our first 50years of history. In 2008 Scot Guy celebrated being our ministyed for the last 20years.

The first minister of Northfield Parish Church, Rev.Duncan McKenzie Bruce, was inducted to the charge on 30 September 1951. Following the Service of Induction some 20 people intimated their desire to be associated with the new congregation of Northfield.

A meeting of Aberdeen Presbytery on 2 Oct 1951 approved the appointment of five Assessor Elders to serve on the Kirk Session of Northfield. Those appointed were Dr. R.F. Twort and Mr. A Thomson from Carden Place congregation and Messrs. F Allardyce , J Clark , J Wood , from Bucksburn congregation. Presbytery also approved the Boundaries of the new Parish of Northfield.

The first constituted meeting of the Kirk Session took place on 15 October 1951 at 3 Deansloch Terrace, Northfield. The Moderator and four of the Assessor Elders were present. A preliminary meeting had taken place on 9 October at which Mr A Thomson was appointed Session Clerk and Interim Treasurer. The first members of the congregation of Northfield appointed to the Session were admitted in October 1953.

October 1951 also saw the beginning of the Youth Work in the congregation with the commencement of the Sunday Schools and with Life Boys, Boys' Brigade and Girls' Guildry all started. All this was only made possible with help from the Local Education Authority and Middlefield Church who granted the use of their buildings for some of these activities. Numbers in the Sunday Schools became so large that they were held in first two, and then three, local schools and then also in the local Community Centre, as well as in the Church. At one point Northfield had the largest Sunday School in Scotland with well over 1,500 children!

The Sacrament of Baptism was first administered by Rev.D.M.Bruce on 4 November 1951 at the Sunday School. 12 children were baptised that day, 6 girls and 6 boys. January 1952 saw the first names on the Communion Roll - the minister + 4 others - and on 27 April 1952 the first Communion Service was celebrated in the 'Hut Church'. On 28 April 1952 the Congregational Board was formed.

In April 1955 the Woman's Guild began. This was formed out of the existing weekly Womens Meeting which had begun in Feb.1952 .

In 2001 Northfield Parish Church celebrated its 50th Anniversary. The theme for the Anniversary Year was 'Looking Forward in Faith'.

Some special events took place during the year to help us celebrate this milestone. At the end of 2000 a simple 'Anniversary' calander was produced.

Events during 2001 included:-

A fund-raiser lunch held in April
A Church Family picnic in June
A flower festival and giving days in September, along with afternoon tea and a display of photographs in the Church Hall.
Cutting the Anniversary cake.

On Sunday 30th September we held a special 50th ANNIVERSARY SERVICE. The congregation included the Moderator of Aberdeen Presbytery, the Lord Provost of Aberdeen, our local MSP, the then oldest member of the congregation - Mrs Lizzie Montgomery aged 103 yrs, the youngest - baby Michael Creighton who had just been baptised on 9 September, and many other visitors, friends and past and present members of the church. Each of the surviving past ministers of Northfield Parish also attended and prayers were led by Rev.Ross Flockhart and Rev.David Anderson. Teas and Anniversary Cake were then served in the Church Hall, after the Service. The last of our special events was a CONCERT in November when members and friends from within and outwith the congregation presented a varied programme of entertainment with something for everyone.