| THE RECENT gales in Scotland tore off the copper roof from St Clement’s, Mastrick, in Aberdeen, and sent it sailing through the air for 30 metres before landing in a road. The five sheets of copper, measuring around 20 x 30 metres, could have been lethal.
“I am so thankful it was at 3 a.m. and nobody was about,” the Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, the Rt Revd Dr Bob Gillies (pictured, in front of the fallen roof), told me. “The fire brigade and police chased round and sealed off the road, and the local churchpeople got out of bed and moved everything out of the church that could be moved into the church hall.”
The Dean-elect, Dr Emsley Nimmo, arrived to help at 7.30 a.m., followed by the Bishop. All was made safe until the local blacksmith arrived at midday to cut up the copper.
St Clement’s is a large church in a deprived area, and the Scottish Episcopal congregation “is tiny, only about 20-30”. Their Priest-in-Charge, the Revd Daniel French, had left them only the previous week, and they are currently being looked after by Dr Nimmo, and other clergy.
The first loss adjuster from Ecclesiastical Insurance came to assess the damage the next day, and a second adjuster, with a quantity surveyor, the day after. “Work can’t begin until the end of the month,” said the Bishop. “It will be a massive repair, but at least the congregation knows that something is happening.”
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