Assembly Hall...

The ceremony to announce the opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland takes place on Thursday 20th May.

When the Lord High Commissioner leaves Holyroodhouse for the Assembly Hall on the Mound, a twenty one gun salute will be fired from the Mills Mount Battery at Edinburgh Castle.

During the 1860s when Bobby roamed the graveyard and Dr. Lee was the minister of Old Greyfriars Kirk, the Assembly met in Victoria Hall on Castlehill. Dr. Lee was Chaplain-in-ordinary to the Queen and also Dean of the Chapel Royal of Holyroodhouse.

Bobby must have been puzzled when he heard the twenty one gun salute thundering out from the Castle to mark the start of the annual gathering which lasts for a week.

The box to receive the entries for the Greyfriars Bobby Childrens Painting Competition is now at the Central Children’s Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. The deadline for entries is Saturday 11th September 2010.

The engraving shows the Victoria Hall as it looked in Greyfriars Bobby's time. The engraving was taken from Cassell's 'Old and New Edinburgh' by James Grant.

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