New Cumnock Parish Church will be hosting a community harvest thanksgiving service this weekend.

The service, open to all in the community who wish to attend, will be held on Sunday, October 2 at 11am.

Celebrating old rural tradition, the service intends to give thanks to this year’s harvest with farmers and other rural workers being invited to attend.

During the service, prayers and hymns of thanks for this year’s harvest will be recited, and two short talks on the theme of harvest – one for children and one for adults - will be presented by the parish church’s minister, the Reverend Ken Yorke.

Mr Yorke said: “Our parish covers a huge area and there’s a lot of farms in that area, so that’s why we think that this is relevant to the community.

"It’s not only for church members, it's for people in the community who might feel that they want to give thanks for harvest.

“People who live in cities are maybe not so familiar with the process of farming and harvest, so services like these bring it to their attention, and are a reminder that all the food that we have originates very often from farming.”

New Cumnock Primary School’s choir will also be in attendance as they are performing hymns twice throughout the day.

Sunday’s thanksgiving service should last for approximately 50 minutes.