WHILST I am aware that the Church of Scotland must reconsider its property portfolio given the falling role of its membership across Scotland and the number of churches requiring major repairs with little finance to complete them, its decision to close Johnstone High Parish Church has left me and many others in our congregation perplexed.

It would appear that in the view of the Church of Scotland, or at least those within the Presbytery of Clyde, being old is no longer acceptable, and such buildings should be disposed of. It is true that Johnstone High Parish Church is old with worship having continuously taken place there since 1792. Locally, its historical importance goes back as far as when George Houstoun, the first Laird of the town, laid out the original plans for the “new town” of Johnstone in the late 1700s, and our church was suggested in those plans, and it remains a leading landmark in the town today.

However, a church is not just the building, it is the people who attend it, and we are a vibrant congregation of mixed ethnicity, numbering over 100 every week with a strong youth connection. Whilst our church building may be old, it is of a sound structural state and the Presbytery is aware of this as the most recent QV report carried out by the Presbytery Building Officer indicated. Financially, our income meets our outgoing needs without the necessity to request any external assistance.

Given this, I wrote to the Clerk of the Presbytery seeking some clarification as to why our church was selected for closure. In his response, I was advised that in coming to this decision a point-scoring system known as the AMBA process was applied and our church’s score fell below that of the church that was to remain open.

This would have been acceptable if it had been applied fairly and accurately, however, paragraph 1.5.1 of the Presbytery’s own Mission Plan concluded with “what has become clear, however, is that it is not possible to use AMBA scoring as the only determining factor in our decision-making process”.

What we, as a congregation, are seeking, and to date is being denied despite many requests, is to be offered fair, honest, and transparent information identifying what the other “determining factors” used were, as we would like the opportunity to challenge the decision. If its findings are fair, then no doubt we will accept the decision taken, however we feel that there are so many inconsistencies in the planning committee’s views and our own that we would like to seek further evidence, rather than being treated with contempt.

If our church were one where we had a dwindling congregation sitting in a crumbling building and financially dependent, then I would not be writing this letter to you, but this is far from the truth and the current situation we find ourselves in.

Joe Graham, Johnstone.

Read more: Leaders of many of our institutions are afflicted with cloth ears

Wind farms are far from green

YOU carry an article on the destruction/reconstruction of the Hagshaw wind farm ("Scotland’s first commercial windfarm to be repowered", The Herald, July 14).

I note that the powers that be in SSE Renewables seem to be under the illusion that their efforts in Hagshaw’s replacement are in some manner a contribution to net zero.

In the video accompanying the online version of the article ("Hagshaw Hill windfarm: New turbines for Scotland's oldest windfarm", heraldscotland, July 13) I see a diesel-driven crane assisting in the operation.Witnessing the operation are at least six persons in high-vis gear. I presume they were transported to the site in fossil-fuel-powered vehicles.

The only persons missing were some Just Stop Oil representatives who presumably found that biking to the site was not to their liking.

All wind farms, despite the hype, are a source of non-renewable “renewable energy”. Their manufacture and construction are in large part from fossil-fuel-mined materials.

Indeed a further consideration overlooked is that fossil fuel and materials used in the replacement work are more difficult to obtain by virtue of the fact that materials required are “higher-hanging fruit" than the earlier materials. Therefore significantly more energy is required to acquire the said materials. The net zero claim is completely false. It is akin to a claim of perpetual motion.

John M Caldwell, Bothwell.

Bring back the MIRAS touch

DO any of your readers remember MIRAS (Mortgage Interest Relief At Source)?

It was a scheme introduced in 1983 by Tory Chancellor Geoffrey Howe in a bid to encourage home ownership.

It certainly helped my wife and I in the purchase of our first flat at a time when both inflation and interest rates were in measured in double digits. It was abolished in 2000 by Gordon Brown, who dismissed it as a middle-class perk.

That may have been the case then but a quarter of a century later it could perhaps be dusted down and added to the Government and Bank of England’s armoury in the battle against inflation, soaring interest payments and general cost of living crisis.

It would be a welcome gesture to help us to follow the Prime Minister’s request to hold our nerve and tough it out.

Keith Swinley, Ayr.

Private humour

FURTHER to correspondence on speech training in schools to combat mangled English as she is spoke (Letters, July 12, 13 & 14), I recall the following exchange during a National Service examination (the peacetime conscription of males aged 17- 21, 1949-1963): “Have your bowels moved?” “Don’t know, Sir. Haven’t been issued with them.”

“Good God, man. Don’t you know the Queen’s English?" “Is she, Sir?”

R Russell Smith, Largs.

Crashing bores

OK, I give in, I have officially become a grumpy old man (my family and friends may say that this is an overdue confession).

Why is it deemed necessary for every bartender to chuck empty bottles into large plastic receptacles at a maximum level of noise?

From the most basic local pub to the top level of cocktail bar, both of which I'm happy to patronise, it seems to be de rigueur to launch bottles at top velocity and force in order to create optimum of disruption to customers. Or is it just me?

Brendan Keenan, Glasgow.