Revd Mary Taylor and the Synod Moderator represented the United Reformed Church at a special reception to mark ‘The Eric Liddell 100’.

Hosted by Daniel Johnson MSP in the Holyrood Room at the Scottish Parliament Building, on Wednesday 20^th September, this was one of the events to mark the forthcoming celebration of Eric Liddell’s gold medal won at the 1924 Paris Olympics – so its centenary being celebrated next year.

The Eric Liddell Centre is at Edinburgh’s Holy Corner and Morningside United Church (which sits on the opposite corner) is developing a peace garden as part of the centenary celebrations.

Liddell, known as the ‘Flying Scotsman’ and whose achievement was commemorated in the 1981 film ‘Chariots of Fire’ also represented Scotland on the rugby field. In 1924 he had trained for the 100 metres but, on discovering he would have to run on a Sunday (which breached his Christian principles) made a late switch to the 400 metres and won gold. Later he served as a missionary in China.

The reception enjoyed a poem about Eric from well-known author Alexander McCall Smith (pictured), a patron of the Eric Liddell Centre, and an address from John MacMillan, its CEO, detailing the values of the Eric Liddell Community and some of the events being planned to mark this anniversary. Details of various events to mark The Eric Liddell 100 and celebrating his life, values and achievements can be found at https://ericliddell.org/whats-on/ and all sorts of information can befound in other parts of the website.

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