
One Renaissance Dress Complete
Majorie Stitt has been another member of the more 'hidden team' that has been working feverishly to produce items for the Reformation Room. She has spent large chunks of her 'spare time' over the course of the last few months designing and sewing up a couple of monks' outfits – and now has risen to the awesome dressmaking challenge of a couple of Renaissance dresses. While I know absolutely nothing about dressmaking, I realise simply by looking at the templates and appreciati

Tour Guide Notes
The basic text, generated one week ago when Rev. Brown took some of the initial batch of Tour Guides through the various areas of the Luther Exhibition, has been expanded. This was inevitable, given the fact that we are receiving bookings for Schools, Youth Groups and a wide range of other church and community groups. Alana has been working on this expansion, adding / abbreviating / simplifying chunks of additional text that have been forwarded by Rev. Brown! Whatever the age

A Massive Thank You!
At the Official Opening of the Reformation Room on Thursday past, Rev. Ian Brown offered thanks to a wide variety of people who have been involved in this project. These included: - to all of the Martyrs congregation, for their prayers, patience, and practical support; - to the Kirk Session and Committee for coming completely on board with the project and granting us a generous budget of £3500 – even when they could not have known exactly what they were being asked to support

The Reasons for the Reformation Room
In his comments on the Official Opening of the Reformation Room on Thursday evening past, Rev. Brown addressed the reason why we were meeting on that specific night – 4 May – and also outlined the aims of this entire project: WHY TONIGHT? Why not after the Prayer Meeting some night? Last night? And why a Thursday night of all nights? (i) We needed a Deadline. As with any project, if you don’t set a target date (and announce it), everything tends to drag forward interminably

First School Visit on Just By Faith Alone Tour
The first school to visit the Reformation Rooms at Martyrs was Portadown Independent Christian School. In many ways this was a practice run for our set of tour guides. We are encouraged by the immediate feedback; a comment that was repeated more than once was that the group had envisaged one room featuring wall-to-wall text and were pleasantly surprised to find a variety of interactive elements at each stage of the tour.

Opening Night for the Reformation Room
Last night witnessed 70 people converge on Martyrs for the Official Opening of the Reformation Room and the launch of the first 'Just By Faith Alone' Tours. After singing Luther's famous hymn, 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,' Rev. Ian Brown welcomed all in attendance, thanked them for their support for the project, and outlined the aims for it. The Moderator of Presbytery, Rev. Thomas Murray, then offered the prayer of dedication. The company was then divided into two groups f

Rush to Opening Time
Another extremely busy day at Martyrs as squads of workers were buzzing around, completing various parts of the project in time for the Official Opening of the Reformation Room tonight at 7.30pm. Work that had to be done included: • Perspex fitted to the display cabinets, • the displays filled, • detail painted in on Luther's face for the sliding tile puzzle, • relevant posters and picture frames positioned, • 28mm model assembled (a long way short of completion, this is defi

You Can Book Your Tour Now
With one day to go to 'Opening Night,' you are now able to book your 'Just By Faith Alone' Tour of our Reformation Room. While we have referred to the project from the start as our 'Reformation Room' (therefore the title of this website, etc.,), the enterprise has known significant 'creep' from day one so that it now comprises a substantial tour of the Martyrs church building. As a rough gauge, if you are booking a School Tour, expect it to last 90 minutes from start to finis

Rubber Stamp for Printing Press
To ensure that the children who visit the Reformation Room will be able to finish the tour by printing a little message we have sent this graphic to the Rubber Stamp Company today. This should be ready for use by tomorrow. Another of the multiple items on our to-do list can now be ticked! Many thanks to Joel Brown for designing the stamp.

May Day Simply Means More Work
May Day – and a Bank Holiday it may be – but this is one we're all going to miss in terms of relaxation. A very elaborate dress is being cut out according to a Renaissance-style pattern, more work is being done to a 28mm model display, and a wide variety of other items relentlessly pursued with respect to getting the Reformation Room ready in time for its opening this week.