Sjømannskirken i Buckie
The Seaman's Mission was located in East Church Street (in the building later occupied for many years by Hydro Electric) and the
Scandinavian Reading Room ((Skandinavisk Leseværelse) was also located there. Services were taken initially on an irregular basis by Pastor Norman Salvesen of the Seamen's Church in Leith. Eventually, Pastor Bjarne Fjælberg (below) came to the town and he remained right until the closure of the mission in 1946.
Scandinavian Reading Room ((Skandinavisk Leseværelse) was also located there. Services were taken initially on an irregular basis by Pastor Norman Salvesen of the Seamen's Church in Leith. Eventually, Pastor Bjarne Fjælberg (below) came to the town and he remained right until the closure of the mission in 1946.
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Bjarne Fjælberg was born at Stavanger on 6 August 1910, the son of Paul Olaus Fjælberg and his wife Ellen Bertine Høyvik. He became assistant at the Seamen's Mission in Leith in 1942 and was often, thereafter, in Buckie, initially with Pastor Salvesen and then, as often as not, on his own.
He married at Leith in 1944, Ethel Hilda Falck (pictured right), a fellow Norwegian. The first of their four children was born at Grosvenor Street in Edinburgh on 5th November 1945 and was announced in The Scotsman the following week. This was a period when he was still regularly in Buckie and remained there until the closure of the mission. Bjarne Fjælberg later served in Wales and he died in Swansea in 1971. Ethel died in 2006. |
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A number of volunteers played the organ or piano at services, including Alice Smith. (pictured left). Many social events including children's Christmas parties were held in the Sjømannskirken. Local children and Norwegians alike attended these and many, such as Charlotte McKenzie (now Mrs McIntosh) remember dancing around the Christmas tree. She also remembers being able to sing Glade jul fluently.
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The following text is by permission of the Seamen's Church.
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Under andre verdenskrig i 1942 åpnet Sjømannskirken leseværelse blant norske eksilfiskere i byen Buckie på nordkysten av Skottland, som på folkemunne hadde fått tilnavnet «Little Norway». Sjømannskirken ble værende i byen fram til 1946.
Under andre verdenskrig forlot mange fiskere Norge og endte opp i byen Buckie på nordkysten av Skottland. Fiskefartøyene ble her underlagt den norske eksilregjeringen, og administrert fra Fiskerikontorets underavdeling i Buckie. Det var viktig å holde fisket i gang i en tid med mangel på matvarer, og norske fiskevarer kom også den engelske befolkningen til gode. I tillegg til den norske fiskerkolonien, var her også et norsk marineverft med rundt 100 arbeidere som utførte vedlikehold av krigsfartøy. Det ble etter hvert så mange nordmenn i Buckie, at byen av mange bare ble kalt «Little Norway». I de første krigsårene tok sjømannspresten i Leith, Leif Brunvand, med jevne mellomrom den omtrent 350 km lange turen for holde gudstjenester for nordmennene i Buckie. Han forteller også i erindringene sine fra krigen at samarbeidet med norske myndigheter i Buckie var positivt, og at den norske visekonsulen F. G. Puntervold støttet aktivt opp om Sjømannskirkens arbeid i byen. I 1942 åpnet Sjømannskirken eget leseværelse i Buckie, i et hus midt i byen i East Church Street. Leseværelset ble definert som bistasjon til sjømannskirken i Leith, med assistent Bjarne Fjælberg som ansvarlig for den daglige driften. Sjømannspresten fra Leith (fra mai 1941 overtok pastor N. Salvesen stillingen etter Brunvand) fortsatte å komme for å holde gudstjenester i en lokal kirke i byen. Sjømannskirkens virksomhet fortsatte gjennom hele krigen, og årsberetningen for 1944 vitner om hvordan forholdene var: «Dessverre ble der enda en årsberetning å skrive om arbeidet i Buckie. […] Vi går heroppe og venter på at Norge skal bli fritt, folket komme hjem, og Stasjonen stengt men dessverre, ennu et år er gått og vi er begynt på et nytt år, med lengsel og venting.» Stasjonen ble nedlagt etter krigens slutt, i 1946. Skrevet av Silje Een de Amoriza, Historikarverksemda for Sjømannskirken. Med tillatelse. Kilder
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In 1942, during the Second World War, the (Norwegian) Seamen's Church opened a reading room among Norwegian exile fishermen in Buckie town on the north coast of Scotland, which had become nicknamed "Little Norway". The sailor's church remained in town until 1946.
During the Second World War many fishermen left Norway and ended up in Buckie on the north coast of Scotland. The fishing vessels were subject to the Norwegian government in exile and managed by a subdivision of the Fisheries Office in Buckie. It was important to keep the fishing industry going at a time of lack of food, and Norwegian fish products also benefited the British population. In addition to the Norwegian fishing colony, there was also a Norwegian boatyard with around 100 workers carrying out maintenance of warships. There were so many Norwegians in Buckie that the town of many was rightly called "Little Norway". During the first war years, the Seaman's priest in Leith, Leif Brunvand, took the approximately 250 mile long trip to the Norwegians in Buckie on a regular basis. He tells in his memoirs of the war that the cooperation between the Norwegian authorities in Buckie was positive and that the Norwegian Vice Consul F. G. Puntervold actively supported the work of the Seamen's church in the town. In 1942, the Seamen's Church opened its own reading room in Buckie, in a house in the middle of the town in East Church Street near Kintrae. The reading room was defined as an outstation for the Seamen’s Church in Leith, with assistant Bjarne Fjælberg responsible for day-to-day operations. The Seamen's priest from Leith (from May 1941, Norman Salvesen took over the position after Brunvand) continued to attend church services in a local church in the town. Sjømannskirken's activities continued throughout the war, and the 1944 annual report shows how the circumstances were: "Unfortunately, there was yet another annual report to write about Buckie's work. [...] We go up there, waiting for Norway to be free, the people come home, and the station closed but unfortunately another year has passed and we are beginning a new year with longing and waiting". The station was closed after the end of the war, in 1946. Written by Silje Een de Amoriza, Historikarverksemda for the Sjømannskirken. Used with permission. Sources
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