THE Rev Norman Nicoll is minister at St Andrew’s Church in Corby.
“St Andrew’s in Corby is a gathered church, originally established to give a place of worship to the first influx of workers who came down from Scotland to man the iron and steelworks of Stewarts & Lloyds in the 1930s. In fact, St Andrew’s celebrated the 80th anniversary of its current church building in July last year.
“In 1950 Corby was declared a New Town and by 1961, a third of the town’s population had been born in Scotland, according to the census, bringing with them their traditions, dialect and culture and earning the town (which is more than 200 miles south of the border) its reputation as England’s ‘Little Scotland’. Steel manufacturing ended in Corby 35 years ago, but the Scots stayed on, “ he says.