The 21 gun salute signalling

The 21 gun salute signalling that the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is leaving Holyroodhouse for the Assembly Hall takes place on Thursday 20th May.

The Assembly meets annually for a week in May at the Assembly Hall on the Mound to discuss Church matters. The first historic gathering took place four hundred and fifty years ago, probably in the Tolbooth, Edinburgh.

The first recorded Lord High Commissioner Sir James Balfour of Pittendreich who served as a galley slave along with John Knox and later became Constable of Edinburgh Castle was elected to the office in 1580.

The photograph shows our Chairman Brian McKenzie and his wife Stella with the Birkenhead time gun during their well earned weekend break following the opening of the ‘Colour Sergeant Scott & Greyfriars Bobby’ exhibition at Prestonpans Library.

Nick Sanders has fitted a new motor to the model time ball in our One o’ Clock Gun exhibition at the Castle and the ball is working perfectly.