East Ayrshire councillors have knocked back an application for a grant to help pay for a leaving lunch for an Ayrshire church minister.
The application by St Andrew’s Free Church for £400 to pay for a ‘leaving lunch’ for the church minister was refused.
The Cumnock church asked the council to cover around 95 per cent of the cost of the dinner, only offering £20 from the church coffers.
This would cover dinner for 40 church members and 20 ‘dignitaries’.
The application revealed the church has almost £35,000 in its bank account.
In the council officer recommendation, it was stated that grants to religious organisations were only considered where the activity was not directly related to the practice of religion.
It said: “This grant is requested to provide a leaving lunch for the current church minister and therefore is directly related to church activity.”
It was also pointed out that the church also has a healthy bank balance and ‘can easily meet this cost from current church funds’.
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