Kirkton Church is not part of the January sales

IT could be interpreted as being a proper ‘sign’ of recession-hit times and falling congregation numbers – a For Sale banner erected outside Carluke’s Kirkton Church.

But the Gazette can reveal that this isn’t a forerunner to the Station Road church potentially being sold and Kirkton being amalgamated with another local church to cut running costs!

Kirkton Church property convenor Ian Paterson said: “Carluke supports three Church of Scotland premises at Kirkton, St Andrew’s and St John’s, so people who’ve seen the sign have been asking me if our church is for sale ahead of some sort of amalgamation. That’s the comic angle of this story.

“The reality is that it’s the piece of grassland next to the church which is actually for sale!

“It is nothing to do with an amalgamation of congregations.”

The reason for trying to sell the quarter-acre of land – which has an asking price of £95,000 – is to help raise money towards renovation costs on the adjacent four-bedroom manse building, occupied by Kirkton minister Rev Iain Cunningham and his family.

For more on this story pick up a copy of the Carluke and Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.