They aimed to help families in need, encourage mothers to bring their children to church and to form a prayerful nucleus within the church. They were given permission by the Rector and began to meet on the first Thursday in the month, raising funds with sales of work and jumble sales but with always an emphasis on prayer and service within the church and beyond.
And that branch is still going strong today, with the same aims.
Branch leader Carolynne Sorrell said: “One hundred years ago the world was a very different place but we aim today to continue the work by putting faith into action to nurture healthy relationships in families and communities and to fight for social justice.
“At St John’s we maintain a daily wave of prayer which mentions by name all the dioceses in the world which have MU members, we support national campaigns and diocesan projects as well as our own projects here in Dumfries.”
The current MU national campaign is against gender based violence, while the Diocesan project is to provide holidays and short breaks for families in need and next year this project will come to Dumfries to help families here.
The branch also supports Women’s Aid with toiletries, girls and women in Africa with Smalls for All, providing underwear to prevent rape and to ensure the girls have uninterrupted education; and they provide Christmas cards for prisoners.
Carolynne added: “We are proud that this work and similar, has been continued at St John’s for 100 years and to celebrate we are holding a thanksgiving service on November 19 when the Bishop will preside and new members will be enrolled.”
The Mothers Union was started in Hampshire in 1876 by Mary Sumner, wife of the local parish rector who was passionate about transforming the home lives of parish families, by helping the women to support one another in raising their children. By 1922 Scotland had its own version and after that, countries around the world began to form their own but with the same aims, until in 1949 all the organisations were drawn together to form the World Wide Mothers’ Union which exists in over 84 different countries and has over four million members made up of men and women.
