Each year I make this annual pilgrimage to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's home town in Kirkcaldy, Fife. This is not out of deference to Gordon, but rather to the tiny congregation at West End Congregational Church which has been supporting The Esther Benjamins Trust right from the very start. Every Sunday there is a plate by the door which collects small change in favour of the charity and after a year that builds up to anything between £1500 and £2000. That's quite amazing given the size of the congregation and its declining numbers but they seem to be motivated by one of the congregation's number, Ann Watters, its minister, Willie McNaughton and by the talk that I deliver before receiving the annual cheque. It's of course great to see everyone again, but it's also a challenge for me to keep the content of my talk interesting and fresh. This year I'll be drawing heavily on the material that I have spent the last few months building up on the EBT channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/philipinnepal
I hope that I manage to have them all on the edge of the pews later on this morning.
