Much-loved local minister is preparing to leave the pulpit for the last time

Reverend Archie Speirs is retiring after seven and a half years of service at the linkage of Inverkip and Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay.

Archie says he has mixed feelings about leaving.

He praised his congregation but says the time is right to begin another chapter in his life.

He told the Telegraph: "The folks here have been absolutely amazing to me, they are a joy to be with.

"I feel greatly blessed, both my wife Christine and myself.

"The support and love we have had here has been amazing.

"The folks are just absolutely wonderful.

"Whoever is going to be their minister will be just as greatly appreciated.

"I have mixed feelings about retiring and leaving my friends here."

Archie will retire at the age of 67 in June.

He hails from Paisley and came late to the ministry after a career with computing firm Hewlett Packard which took him to Australia for 10 years.

He said: "The computer industry was a new one then.

"I managed to see a fair bit of Australia, from the Northern Territory and Queensland down to Melbourne in the south."

Archie says he'll never forget one job when he was called to fix a computer system for an aluminium company in a town in the remote Northern Territory.

He said: "I was walking over to the office across a playing field and a water buffalo starting moving towards me.

"These things are massive big animals - I had to make a rather quick exit!"

A calling to serve as minister in the Church of Scotland brought him back to Scotland.

He said: "I went out to Australia and came back to my home town - I had come full circle.

"I started studying for the ministry in Australia.

"It takes about seven years and then I was ordained at St Ninian's in Ferguslie Park in 1995."

After spending five years there, he moved to the linkage of Kinlochleven and Onich churches.

He said: "The folks up there were just lovely, it was a different way of life moving from Ferguslie Park to rural Scotland."

Archie stayed up north for another five years before coming to Inverclyde at St Martin's in Port Glasgow.

He said: "That was a different challenge - we were waiting for the community around the church to come back after the demolitions.

"The tenements round about it had come down and then the financial crisis stopped the regeneration of the area."

Fast forward seven years and he received a warm welcome at Inverkip, Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay.

Archie said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed working with pastoral assistant Chris Barlas and other members of the congregation.

"If you want something done, they just go and do it."

The popular minister is married to Christine, 60, who works as a carer for adults with learning disabilities.

The couple have four sons and a daughter and five grandchildren.

Archie is looking forward to spending more quality time with them and is returning to live in Paisley, where they all stay, and also has a few foreign trips planned.

He told the Tele: "I'd like to take my good lady to Rome and Christine would like to visit New York."

But Rev Speirs also plans to stay involved in the church.

He said: "The church faces some big challenges and I would to play some part in that in the future."

Pastoral assistant Chris says he has learned so much from working alongside Archie.

He said: "I've worked with Archie for just over two years and he's been a great teacher and mentor.

"He has a real heart for people and knows how to deal with different situations.

"I have been with him when he has visited a grieving family and he has a gentle presence.

"He is very measured, especially during visits when people are struggling - he knows when to speak and when to listen."

Chris said that Rev Speirs also embraced the future and welcomed new ways to do things in the church, helping to make his post possible.

He told the Tele: "I want to thank Archie and the Kirk Session for creating this post, there's still a lot of things to be done but this has been made possible by a forward-thinking minister and Kirk session."

Elder Bill Wright says Archie will be missed a great deal.

He said: "He has been magnificent, warm and well loved.

"People have taken him and his family to their hearts."