Rev Adrian Rennie

A leading peace campaigner and Edinburgh church minister has died in his sleep at the age of 37.

The Rev Adrian Rennie, a former Chairman of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, had been minister at Drylaw Parish Church for four years. He was found dead in his bed by his wife of ten years, Jean Gibson. The couple have a six year old son, Calum.

The popular community figure passed away in the early hours of Wednesday in what his wife described as a sudden but peaceful death. Ms Gibson added that the messages of sympathy and support that had flooded into their Blackhall family home in the past few days had been "overwhelming".

She said: "We have had messages from all over. Neighbours, friends, the church, members of the community and other people Adrian met in his lifetime have all been in contact. He obviously touched the lives of many. The whole family have been overwhelmed with the amount of sympathy and support that has been forthcoming since Adrian's death. He was very much into the community side of the church and certainly had lots of contacts.

"Adrian was also very passionate about nuclear disarmament and it was something that was very important to him. He may have stood down from his rold as chairman of the CND but he was still very active on their behalf. Just recently he was working with MSPs at the Scottish Parliament, advising a working group on CND issues. He was very keen on that, he wanted to develop a role for someone at the parliament to deal soley with nuclear issues. He was always talking away about it and was up at the Parliament a lot." She added: "His death really has been a big shock, not just to me but to everyone who knew him."

A memorial service took place on Sunday at Drylaw Parish Church and the funeral is expected to go ahead on Thursday.

Mr Rennie regularly led anti-nuclear protests and believed very strongly in the abolition of nuclear weaponry. He was among a group of demonstrators arrested by police outside the Faslane Naval Base in February.

Mr Rennie was appointed minister of Drylaw Parish Church in 1996 after serving as warden of the Macleod youth centre on the island of Iona. He was born in Aberdeen and had previously been a minister in an inner-city Glasgow parish for six years. Before taking up his post at Drylaw, Mr Rennie was also served at Granton Parish Church.

Speaking of his appointment to Drylaw in 1996, Mr Rennie said: "It's a church I fell in love with the first time I drove past it. Then I met the people and I felt an empathy with them."

The Clerk of Edinburgh Presbytery, Rev Peter Graham, described him as "a campaigner for truth." Mr Graham conducted the service for his colleague on Sunday at Drylaw, sharing in the grief of parishioners who were said to be deeply shocked and saddened by their minister's death.

He said: "Adrian was a great campaigner for peace and justice. He was well-loved among the Drylaw community and was a very outgoing person. I spoke to a few of his parishioners after the memorial service on Sunday and the mood was one of shock. It was a very sombre occassion for everyone."

Brian Quail, Joint Secretary of Scottish CND said today "Adrian was a forthright and courageous champion of peace. He made a valuable contribution to the work of nuclear disarmament as press officer and then chair of Scottish CND. For this and his many other qualities - his sense of humour, his sociable nature and his appreciation of good company - he will be sadly missed."

The funeral service for Mr Rennie, who is believed to have suffered a heart attack, will take place on Thursday at 11.30 am at Drylaw Parish Church, Edinburgh.

(Article by Stephanie Todd in the Edinburgh Evening News 31 October 2000)