An inconspicuous corner of a field on the A882 at Bilbster has been transformed into a spiritual centre for Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) in just a few months thanks to the efforts of its members.

The Wick Kingdom Hall (WKH) has moved a few miles outside of the town to a pastoral area and opened its doors to the public at a special event on Saturday, January 27.

Dave Edwards spoke on behalf of WKH at the Saturday open day and said: "We have public meetings and midweek we have a Christian Life Ministry Meeting which is on a Thursday.

"We have a high public profile and we have items about teaching people not to be nervous, when out in the community, and to interact in a kind way and to introduce what we believe is the truth from the Bible. Our meetings have video presentations and talks. The principles in these items help us cope with life's problems and thrive."

Members had been meeting at WKH for a couple of weeks before the official opening day and all were looking forward to meeting the public. The building was constructed by a sizeable team of JW volunteers and took only six months to go from a barren and soggy field near a wind farm on the Wick to Watten road to an impressive new build with modern high-tech facilities.

Dave said that the site was acquired 10 years ago after it was deemed that the place of worship at Glamis Road in Wick was no longer fit for purpose. "Many Kingdom Halls are being built and older ones being refurbished up and down the country and, indeed, worldwide," he added.

JW volunteers who helped build the Kingdom Hall were not just local and some, with particular construction skills, had travelled many miles to the site. Part of the organisation behind it is called Local Design and Construction (LDC) which involves a "pooling of resources" using volunteer worshippers who have logged their skills on a global database. "When your particular skills are needed you'll be called upon," said Dave.

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At the open day event, Dave said: "It's lovely to invite, informally, our neighbours up in Caithness to come to the Kingdom Hall. It's not a religious meeting. It's a time to come and look at the building to see what's inside as many have passed along the road and looked and wondered 'what's in the Kingdom Hall?'."

The building was filled with curious visitors as planned and not all were JW members. The main hall had seating for around 50 or 60 worshippers and a screen to display films related to their religious beliefs. A sizeable car park was filled with vehicles and all who visited were given a war welcome at the door by Alex McGowan who lives in West Watten and had undertaken site security when the building was being constructed.

Mark Jones and his wife Joanne were at the open day event as well and worked in overseeing the the construction of WKH. "There are three couples that make the construction group who look after the project after it's got planning permission," said Mark.

"We set the budget, work out how many materials we need and we have a database where we find the volunteers. We spend a few months planning that and once we are here onsite we're helping the volunteers each day; asking them what we need to do today; making sure the materials will arrive onsite; and looking after all the health and safety."

Mark said the sense of camaraderie felt by the volunteers who come to work together is addictive and people feel uplifted to see the final results of a building's construction as was witnessed at the site at Bilbster. "It's a pleasant place to meet and come and worship together. In the springtime we'll have an event where we get the grounds finished."

Mark said there are various Kingdom Hall designs that can be drawn on for the construction brief and the Bilbster one is an 80-seater. "We have a 110-seater and we have the 'Big Three' which are wider and can seat 130, 150 and 170." Mark and his wife were preparing to head off to their next project after the open day event at Bilbster.

Dave shared some information about what the public can expect if they wish to visit the Bilbster hall. "All of our meetings have Bible based themes and are generally under two hours long. The first part consists of a Bible discourse that is especially designed for the general public.

"The second part of the weekend meeting is the Watchtower Study, a question-and-answer discussion of articles published in the study edition of the Watchtower."

He added that this exact information from the Watchtower is studied simultaneously each week in the 118,177 congregations worldwide.

As we were leaving, John Goodbrand from Thurso said he wanted to share his feeling about his open day visit: "I'll come whenever I can and I've met so many nice, kind people there."

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