Polmont North Parish Church

1844 to 1969

WESTQUARTER
WITH the development of Westquarter Estate for housing the Session was authorised in late 1936 to erect a hall there for worship. Plans were prepared but the estimated cost - around £1,200 - presented one problem. Another was that the Session questioned their ability to maintain it as it meant that Polmont Kirk now had a church, mission church, a manse and two halls to maintain. Despite their misgivings the Session decided, after due consideration, that it could and the decision to proceed was taken in March 1938. The following February the Church came to Westquarter when a service and a Sunday School were held in the new Carhowden Hut, for which the charge was 2s a service. Meantime costs had risen and the hall was now to cost £2,475 of which £495, rather more than originally indicated, was to be found by the congregation. War was declared in the autumn of 1939, yet the building proceeded and the hall was dedicated on March 22, 1940.

Like Kerse before it another daughter church of Polmont developed, and in July 1948, Redding and Westquarter became a Church Extension charge. It is now a quoad sacra parish church.

SESSION HOUSE
THE problem of an adequate ante-room and proper toilet facilities at the church occurred at intervals from at least 1910, when the Session was concerned about and considered "supplying and fitting up such under north stairway of church" and "such accommodation of the nature desired suitable for both sexes outside north side of Session House (Vestry)". The matter was deferred until the Session heard what the Heritors thought of the idea. The Heritors did not appear to be impressed for nothing more was done. In 1951 the first proposal of 1910 was again suggested but the Sanitary Inspector did not consider it a good idea and there the matter rested.

Meanwhile the Session had no regular meeting place, holding meetings in the church vestry or hall when available. The choir too assembled in a corner in the vestibule on a Sunday morning prior to the service and suffered considerable discomfort in winter. Their plight was discussed by the Kirk Session in October 1946, when it was pointed out that the stone floor and the draughts from the north and south doors mainly contributed to the discomfort. The choir no doubt realised this all too well. As suitable matting was not available little, if anything, was done. Yet the Session can hardly be blamed for not doing very much as, with having so many buildings to build and maintain, there was a constant strain on the finances to keep them in good repair without improving or extending existing premises.

With the disjunction of Redding and Westquarter, Polmont Kirk Session looked at the buildings, and in 1955 discussed fully what was required in the next 10 - 15 years and what were the priorities. It was felt that the first need was a Session House and proper sanitary accommodation at the Church, followed by hall extension as the community was growing owing to industrial development, with a consequent increase in numbers attending the organisations. Existing hall accommodation was being sorely taxed.

Mr Henry Wilson was commissioned as architect of the Session House. The Kirk Session and congregation were keen to have this new acquisition to their church but four years were to pass before it was occupied owing to delay on the part of agencies outwith the Session's control.

Once the actual construction was under way, everything went well and on October 11, 1959, this delightful room, panelled in avadero wood and furnished with Jacobean chairs and refectory tables, was dedicated by the Rev D Stewart McAlpine, Macduff, son-in-law of Mr Wilson. One of the features of the Session House is the magnificent lectern which was a memorial to Dr Walter Wickham, Barrister and Medical Officer.

When this project, costing £3,500, was completed the Kirk Session immediately turned to the hall and set itself to the task of improving facilities for the more efficient running of the organisations under its care. At the Session meeting of September 1959 - one month before the Session House was dedicated - plans for the hall extension were considered. Unfortunately at this time Mr Henry Wilson died but his son, Mr T Ronald Wilson, took over and advised the Session. The scheme involved creating an area which would serve the double purpose of a lesser hall capable of accommodating 30 persons and a stage for the large hall, converting the old classroom into a spacious kitchen and the old kitchen into a committee room. Once again a large sum of money was involved. The estimated cost of the new building was £3,850 while a further £1,000 would be required for re-laying the floor of the large hall, renewing the windows and painting. Once again the congregation rose to the occasion and the accounts were paid as they were rendered.

The halls were re-opened on Wednesday, September 18, 1963, at a short service conducted by the minister.