New Manse
Times were hard and it was a struggle to make ends meet. There was no Manse. However by 1905 the Manse had been erected in Coronation St. There is no record in the Church minute books. Mr. Alex Campbell, a former Session Clerk, indicated that Mr Ross had taken it upon himself to write to various parties outwith the county pleading the cause of the poor people of Pulteney who had a Church but no Manse. He seems to have raised the required finance almost entirely on his own. The Manse was ample for a life-long bachelor and an interesting commentary on social attitudes of the time in that only two rooms face north and never have any sunlight – the Maid’s bedroom and the Maid’s kitchen!
He was a ‘well kent’ figure around the parish and it is reported he was a regular visitor on Monday morning on the door-step of those who had failed to appear at Sunday worship. Apart from the Sunday Service and a ‘women’s working party’ there was little other congregational activity. In 1904 an organ was introduced to assist the worship “in the absence of any objection on the part of the congregation.”
Since its inception the Church was known as Pulteneytown Church (or Chapel 1842-1878). However in 1929 Presbytery enquired concerning the future name of the church in the light of prospective Church union. The Kirk Session were unanimously of the view that the congregation should be continue to be called Pulteneytown Church. However, later that year the Church had a new name: "Pulteneytown St.Andrew’s". No explanation is given in the records.
Latterly Mr. Ross often wondered “What will happen to my Kirkie when I go?” The same thought was very much in evidence at his Memorial Service on 8th.May 1936 when it was said “If the Church was carried on it would be the most fitting memorial that could be bestowed on such a zealous worker in the vineyard of Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
….And it did continue…..but it was a hard struggle.