*LOCAL NEWS*

On the 4th January the First Minister put Scotland into a temporary lock down and declared "Places of worship are required to close for worship, but can open for the purposes of leading an act of worship (broadcast or online), conducting a marriage or civil partnership ceremony or a funeral.​​​​​" The Minister will continue with the WhatsApp Service on a Sunday morning at 10 o clock until such times as this restriction is lifted.

This banner has been put up outside of Carnock and Oakley Church.

Some of the ladies of the congregation had been knitting Angels for Christmas in the hope that they could be given to the children of Inzievar and Holy Name schools at the Christmas Service. The message with each Angel reads.

Angels are God's messengers of hope.

It has been said that we can live for forty days without food,

three days without water, eight minutes without air,

but only one second without hope.

Christians believe Jesus came to the world to give a living hope,

hope for a world where everyone lives forever.

How about that for some good news for a change!

Happy Christmas.

This year it has not been possible to hold a school Christmas Service so Ann Rae put each knitted Angel into indivdual bags so they could be distributed to the children by their teachers.

Winifred Narbough and Mina Kyle handing over the Christmas Angels.

We have received a communication from the Church of Scotland offices regarding a banking scam that’s doing the rounds in Fife. We have been asked to disseminate the following press release:

BANK FRAUD WARNING - FIFE

Officers in North East Fife are continuing their investigation and warning the public to be on their guard following three recent high-value bank frauds.

In the last two months, many people from the St Andrews area have been the victim of high-value frauds where four and five figure sums of money have been stolen for their bank accounts.

In each of these cases the victims have received telephone calls from someone with a reported local accent, purporting to be from the fraud team of their local bank branch and appear to be calling from a genuine bank telephone number.

The fraudster then tells the person they have called that they have concerns regarding local bank staff employees and asks the caller for assistance.  The fraudster will provide information regarding their account and asks for help testing security procedures.  They may ask the person to transfer funds, apply for banking products, or even for them to visit their local banking branch to check staff are responding appropriately.

Community Sergeant Matt Spencer from St Andrews Police Station said:  “I would ask everyone to be on their guard from any type of online or telephone scam. 

“Each of these incidents is clearly extremely upsetting for the people involved who all believed that the calls were made from their own banks.  They trusted that the information they were given was correct.  The people behind these scams are contemptible, abusing people’s trust and then stealing money from them.

“The criminals who use these sophisticated tactics go to great lengths to appear legitimate including making it appear they are calling from a genuine bank telephone number.  It is important to remember that a genuine caller from your bank would never ask for your banking or personal details as they already have it.  They would not ask you transfer money during an unsolicited call.  It is best to politely end the call and call back on a number you have sourced yourself, ideally using a different phone.  If you are unsure, end the call and ask a relative or friend for advice.  Any victims of these crimes or anyone with concerns regarding calls they have received should contact their local police station through 101.  If you in any doubt that the call is not genuine then please end the call, your bank will understand.”

Anyone with information should contact Police via 101 quoting reference number 1452 of 09/07/2020.  Alternatively Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111, where anonymity can be maintained.

Oakley Medical Practice

Important Information

From Monday 8th June please use the following numbers for contact:

GP Appointments & Enquiries:

01383 850212 / 01383 850293

Prescription requests & Medication Enquiries:

01383 855113 (From 10am to 3pm ONLY)

(Online ordering still available)

COVID Related Illness - Do Not Contact Practice - Phone: 111

Thankyou for patience and understanding at this strange time.

STAY HOME-STAY SAFE- STAY WELL