Charles Douglas

Brought up in Musselburgh I was educated at Pinkie St Peters Primary and Musselburgh Grammar. As a family we attended St Peter's Episcopal church where we were fairly involved.

In my 5th year at the Grammar I started attending Scripture Union. The Scripture Unions around Edinburgh held a joint Saturday meeting called TORCH and it was through that organisation I met my wife Daphne, who now works as a Nursery Teacher at a private Nursery.

TORCH organised weekends away and I attended one at Carberry Tower at the end of 1970 and as a result of that I committed my life to God and was converted. Since St. Peter's was a fairly high Episcopal church I no longer felt comfortable worshiping there and started worshiping at Leith Free Church in 1971 where Daphne's father was the minister. I soon became a member there. We were married in 1973.

On leaving school in 1970 I worked as a pensions clerk for about 8 years. However having felt the Lord was calling us to serve Him in Peru we left Edinburgh to take up work in Cajamarca, Peru with two small boys, Alistair and Iain. We set off there in the summer of 1978.

My first task was to manage a Christian Bookshop there and after that I went on to administer and coordinate a Development Project called PROESA. On returning to Scotland in 1986 I studied at the Free Church College. By this time we had four boys, Kenneth was born in 1982 and Stuart in 1987. There were 10 students who finished the course in 1990 and so many of us were left waiting for calls. Since no approach was made we were asked to go to The Isle of Bute in 1993 and stayed there for 5 years.

With no opening for work I decided to take a year out to study a M.Th in Theology, Development and Culture with Edinburgh University and graduated at the end of 1999. It was then I was asked to take up the work as Manager of the Free Church Bookshop.

We were especially blessed recently when our son Iain married Fiona Macdonald. They are now both members in Dowanvale Free Church.

I enjoying watching a good film and walking.

- Charles Douglas