Autumn 2026 Newsletter
| In this issue… · Our Annual Meeting – and a Fond Farewell! · Taxi? – Thank You, Donors! · Lerwick Seafarers Centre’s Busy Season · Lest We Forget – Seafarers Stranded by the Gulf Crisis |
| Our Annual Meeting – and a Fond Farewell! Revd Tim Linkens will chair our Annual Meeting, kindly hosted again by St Catharine’s Church in Bo’ness on Saturday 21st November starting at 12 noon. Most important, after many years of faithful service to seafarers in Scotland, our chaplain Revd Tim Tunley has announced his intention to retire around the turn of the year. |
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We invite all our supporters to join us in this opportunity to pay tribute to Tim and thank him and his wife Christine for all they have done in the cause of seafarer welfare. We will be sad to see him leave as he has been such a fine servant of seafarers, but we wish him and Christine all the very best for their retirement. We have invited Tim to be our speaker at the meeting. The meeting is also a chance to hear of the Mission’s work over the past year and to say ‘Thank You’ to all our volunteers and supporters. Our liaison Bishop, the Right Reverend David Railton, Bishop of Argyll and The Isles, will then lead us in a Eucharist. This will be followed by a light lunch kindly prepared by the congregation of St. Catharine’s. All our trustees, supporters and volunteers from MtSS and our friends from Stella Maris – to whom we are most grateful for the help they give us in running the Grangemouth Seafarers Centre – are invited. The date: Saturday 21st November at 12 noon. The place: St Catharine’s Episcopal Church, Cadzow Cres, Bo’ness EH51 9AY Save the Date – Do Join Us – RSVP to chair@mtss.scot by Saturday 7 November |
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Taxi? – Thank You, Donors! We are so grateful to all those who contribute to the work of the Mission. As well as our volunteers who give their time, we are blessed with financial donations. Amongst these, from time to time we receive a bequest from a person’s will or a grant from an organisation or charitable Trust. We deeply appreciate this form of support for our work.Recent donations and a grant from the Inverclyde Trust have enabled us to offer an expanded free taxi service for seafarers whose ships are berthed at Grangemouth, Rosyth and Inverkeithing. Grangemouth: Building on the success of the one-way taxi service provided by Tartanline Radio Cabs that has been offered in recent years from Grangemouth Port to a local supermarket, this is now offered with a free return taxi ride back to the port, which will certainly make getting the shopping back to the ship much easier! We are also adding Falkirk High Railway Station as an approved drop-off/pick-up point, enabling seafarers from Grangemouth to benefit from the frequent trains to Edinburgh and Glasgow – or just to visit the shops and sights in Falkirk. |
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Rosyth Docks and Inverkeithing Inner Bay: In a major expansion of our support to crews of ships visiting the north shore of the Forth, we now offer a free taxi service to seafarers at Rosyth Docks and the commercial berths on Inverkeithing Inner Bay. This service is operated by arrangement with Rosyth Taxis. Seafarers can ask for a ride to and from particular local destinations: · Tesco Extra at Duloch · Dunfermline Town Centre · Inverkeithing Railway Station, with its frequent direct trains to central Edinburgh. |
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We’ll review the use of these service by seafarers in the coming months but we hope they will take up this opportunity to make the most of their precious personal time ashore, whether for shopping or sightseeing or whatever! |
Lerwick Seafarers Centre’s Busy Season |
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The Lerwick Centre has enjoyed a busy 2026 cruise‑ship season. By mid-August the Centre had welcomed over 340 seafarers from 49 nationalities, well up on the 188 visitors and almost double the number of nationalities recorded during the whole of 2025. A key part of the Centre’s ministry continues to be the distribution of Christian literature. Volunteers have already given out around 200 Bibles and New Testaments, over 150 Bible‑access key fobs, Centre coffee mugs, tracts and well over 200 hats kindly created by MtSS knitting volunteers and forwarded by Tim and Christine Tunley. The new key fobs, offering direct access to Scripture in a seafarer’s own language, have proved especially valuable. Recent improvements to the Centre’s facilities have also made a real difference. New laptops and a printer have enabled visiting crews to complete personal tasks far more easily than on a mobile phone, and these have been warmly received. Two new volunteers have joined the team, helping to share the workload during busy cruise‑ship days. Overall, this has been a very encouraging year for the Lerwick Seafarers Centre. Increased visitor numbers, wider international reach, strengthened facilities and committed volunteers all reflect a thriving ministry and a valued service to those who sail into Shetland’s premier harbour. |
| Lest We Forget – Seafarers Stranded by the Gulf Crisis Thousands of seafarers are still stranded in the Arabian Gulf as the prolonged conflict prevents safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. From fears of missile attacks to worries about jobs and family separation, these quotes from crews, reported in the June edition of ‘Flying Angel News’ – the Mission to Seaferes global newsletter – reveal the realities of life on board… |
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Although the Strait of Hormuz remains the focal point, the consequences are being felt far beyond the Gulf. Incidents, including attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the sinking of the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, underscore the broader risks facing crews operating in an increasingly volatile environment. The Mission’s efforts to maintain human connection have been stepped up. Teams are expanding both in-person ship visits where possible and virtual outreach, focusing on what one chaplain in Sri Lanka describes as “intentional moments of connection where trust is built.” “In times of conflict, our mission is both simple and profound: to be present,” the chaplain said. “Showing up consistently and without condition becomes a powerful act of solidarity”. |