It is one of the most remote islands in the Hebrides with a population of just 135 – but the people of Colonsay have raised thousands of pounds to replace their church belfry in just six months.
With a typical island attitude, parishioners at Colonsay and Oronsay Parish Church did not want to burden the Church of Scotland with the £60,000 bill, so they raised the funds themselves.
Donations have been flooding in from all over the world and yesterday when The Royal Scottish Shipping Line saw that they needed £3,000 to reach their target, the body stepped in.
Session Clerk of the Georgian church, built in 1802, Kevin Byrne said: “It is wonderful, it’s extremely encouraging, quite extraordinary.
“It is such a tiny congregation, we feel a duty of stewardship to preserve the church for future generations, but we didn’t want to place any trouble or burden on the Church of Scotland. So we decided to try to raise the money ourselves.”
The church is in Scalasaig, overlooking the ferry port and adjacent to the Colonsay Hotel.
Its belfry is a “bird cage” belfry, a stone structure with a canopy on top of the church bell.
The structure was held together by little iron bars which corroded and expanded to split the stone.
Mr Byrne said: “We had about half a ton of stone perched over the vestry roof. The bell was still intact but nobody was going to pull that string!”
Argyll firm Rowan Stoneworks removed the belfry in January and have sourced the stone to replace it. It is expected that the work will be completed in June.
The island’s Baptist congregation instantly offered the funds that they have gathered for their own church building, however these will not be required. Mr Byrne said: “It was a very generous offer. Fortunately we don’t have to take it, but it does show the very ecumenical character of worship on Colonsay.”
A total of £25,000 was granted by the National Churches Trust, the J. Murray Napier Fund of St. Columba’s Church in London, the Allchurches Trust, the Baird Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Royal Scottish Shipping Line.
An art exhibition in the church with all exhibits donated to the fund also brought in a healthy amount.
Other donations have been flooding in from all over the world, including descendants of Colonsay with roots going back more than 200 years.
