A Inverness-shire village’s love of shinty will feature in a time capsule created to mark the 150th anniversary of a local Catholic church.
A special service will be held tomorrow to celebrate the milestone at St. Mary’s Church in Beauly.
Shinty balls from three local communities and much-loved photographs will be put into the container, which will be sealed and left at the church for future generations.
Beauly has been an ancient Christian centre ever since its establishment around 1230.
A Valliscaulian monastic community of French monks were originally located at the priory, which was gradually secularised until its disestablishment in 1634.
The ruins are still extensive and are one of the main visitor attractions in Inverness-shire.
A new Catholic church was built nearby and consecrated in 1864. Today it serves the communities of Beauly, Cannich, Eskadale, Ullapool, Gairloch and Poolewe.
Parish priest at Beauly, Father Colin Davies, said: “We are creating a time capsule which will be presented on Thursday and we are basically putting together photographs and items which represent the parish in general. This will include shinty balls from Strathglass, Beauly and Lovat.
“It’s a huge landmark for the parish. It’s a big thing for any parish to make a centenary but another 50 years on top of that is just fantastic.
“The church was bought and paid for by the 16th Lord Lovat, and we will have representatives from his family attending on Thursday evening.
“We are expecting a good crowd but will just have to wait and see happens on Thursday. We have put out invitations to the local Catholic parishes around Inverness and further north as well.”
Tomorrow’s Mass of celebration will take place at 6.30pm. The R.C. Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert, will be chief celebrant.