We are currently 17 members in the Isle of Arran Guild coming from four villages. There are around 11,000 members in the Guild nationally. Contrary to some thinking, the Guild is not merely a fund raising organisation of the Church of Scotland but originally came into being in order to give women a visible role in the church where through ‘worship, prayer, action and fellowship’ they could flourish and grow in faith, and be more informed of the of the outreach of the church nationally and worldwide.
We have a network of Guild branches linked and sharing with the whole of Ayrshire through Ayrshire Guild's Together (AGT). There is an Autumn Gathering, a Spring Gathering and a Summer Gathering where all the Guild branches in Ayrshire come together. Annually in September we have a National Gathering in Perth which is followed by Guild Week. The Guild does fundraise for projects though, at home and abroad. Donations this year for the four Project Partners raised nationally, £224,265.66.
The Arran Guild meets at 2p.m. on 3rd Tuesday of each month from September – April and we do hope many more of the folk in Isle of Arran Church of Scotland will join us along with friends just wanting a ‘taster’.
(Not all our members worship in the Church of Scotland and the Guild has been open to men as well as women since 1997!).