Children’s Trail of Discovery
St. Andrew’s Church, Academy Street, Fortrose

Elizabeth Harker of The Arts Society Highland is responsible for devising Children’s Trails of Discovery in The Highlands, the aim of which is to encourage children and adults alike to explore places of worship, to look at them with fresh eyes and learn more about their treasures, whether stained glass windows, architecture or simply the purposes of various items within the building. The Trails are somewhat like a treasure hunt, they inform, but are also tremendous fun and hopefully the experience will inspire participants to visit other places of worship.
The latest Trail of Discovery to be launched was at St. Andrew of Scotland’s Church Fortrose on Friday 8th November 2019 and was attended by about 40 young students from Fortrose Academy, two members of staff and about 20 members of the congregation. Two of the admirable illustrations used in the Trail were done by students from Fortrose Academy, to whom certificates were presented by The Arts Society Highland.
Canon Mel Langille, Rector of St Andrew’s, welcomed everyone and once instructions on how to proceed had been issued the children set off with their Question sheets to explore the church. On completion of the Trail, Canon Mel recounted his Sunday school days where his class was banished to the boiler room for bad behaviour. On the day of his ordination he visited the boiler room for a quiet time, when he spied a paper aeroplane lodged behind the boiler. He remembered the day he and his friends had ripped up their Sunday School lesson books and made paper aeroplanes. The one he found years later had his name written on it, so he put it in his pocket where it stayed for his ordination. These fond memories beautifully led into a creative and fun request to make paper aeroplanes out of the Question sheets and so the airborne planes officially launched the Trail of Discovery.
The Trail is available in the church (which is open every day) for every visitor to enjoy at their leisure. Question & Answer sheets, together with clipboards and pencils are available in the church. It is recommended that young children be accompanied by an adult when doing the Trail which takes about 30 minutes.
Trails of Discovery are already available to enjoy in Dyke and Edinkillie churches. Other churches in the Inverness area are due to be “discovered” in the near future.

Diana Hamilton-Jones
The Arts Society Highland - Young Arts