The owner of a historic Alexandria church that was engulfed in a catastrophic fire has told how he is praying it can be saved.
Andrew Cuthbert watched from his Northern Ireland home as a huge blaze, which police are investigating, ripped through the B-listed former St Andrew’s Church on Main Street on Saturday evening.
Residents lined the streets and watched in horror as a huge plume of smoke billowed into the sky from the derelict building, home to memories of events and occasions for residents across the area.
Emergency crews raised to the scene with firefighters returning yesterday (Monday) to extinguish a small fire after receiving reports of smoke emitting from the roof.
Andrew initially launched a £200,000 ‘St Andrews Church Disaster Fund’ appeal to help with the cost of rebuilding it - but today reduced the crowdfunding target to £10,000.
Speaking to the Lennox Herald yesterday, he told how he has been left “devastated” by the latest fire, which came less than a week after another blaze on Easter Sunday - which police are treating as wilful.
The building is at the centre of £750,000 community plans – with Andrew admitting he faces a nervous wait to find out if it can be saved.
Investigators from Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service were still at the church as we went to print yesterday (Monday), with council officers set to determine its fate later this week.
Andrew said he felt powerless watching events unfold from across the Irish Sea.
He said: “We’ve been re-boarding the church for the last few weeks every couple of days as break-ins have been quite frequent.
“But this time it was catastrophic.
“I’m devastated. We had such big plans.
“We’ve had a few knocks over the years, but I thought the plans were going to become a reality.”
Last year, charity Viresco Studios was awarded a grant of £750,000 by the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, and said they would work in partnership with West Dunbartonshire Council to transform the venue into a state-of-the-art creative venue.
And Andrew, who purchased the church in an online auction in 2015 for £62,000, explained more about his vision for St Andrew’s.
He continued: “When I first opened the doors it wasn’t what I expected at all. I was pretty devastated, as you can imagine, when I saw how bad the situation was.
“Over the years I stayed involved though, even when people had an interest in buying it and turning it into flats. I wanted to keep it in the community. Even though it wasn’t a community I was part of.
“I grew up on a wee housing estate in Northern Ireland. Growing up we had no money. My dad died when I was seven and my mum raised us by herself. I know how not having a start in life can affect you.
“I’m from nothing. Why could anyone else from that background not get on in life?
“I’m not expecting this to be something that will give me a monthly income. It hasn’t done since I bought it, and I’ve had plenty of offers over that time.
“I want it to inspire people. I’m not going to make any money out of the church, I would like to see it do some good. If we could’ve built something that local young people could get something out of then that would be amazing. I’d love to connect with local young people from a similar background to myself. I’d like to give them somewhere to come up with ideas.”
He also hopes to hear from more people with memories of the church, adding: “I’ve never met as many people with memories of the church. So many from the local community have been in touch, I just wish I’d known about these before.
“When I saw some of the pictures of how it used to be it was incredible.
“If anyone has any memories or pictures they’d like to share then I’d love for them to get in touch and then get involved.
“I’d love for local people to help shape its future.”
However, that future will be determined once the scale of the damage is assessed.
Andrew concluded: “At the moment I don’t know where we are. Hopefully I’ll know soon if the actual building is allowed to stand. That’s my biggest worry.
“I don’t want it to be knocked down. I want it to remain, but I don’t know what will happen if it’s something I don’t have control over. I’ve still to hear. If it gets through that then I’d like to pick up where we left off and push ahead with our plans.
“If we can get this alive again and get people to use it then that’s all I want.”
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson confirmed they were alerted at 7.29pm.
They said: “Operations Control mobilised three appliances to the town’s Main Street, where firefighters were met by a well-developed fire.
“Crews extinguished the fire and worked to make the area safe before leaving the scene. There were no casualties.
“Firefighters were remobilised to the scene at 9.26am on Monday, April 25 after receiving reports of smoke emitting from the structure’s roof.
“Crews thereafter extinguished a small fire before leaving the scene.”
Police Scotland has launched a public appeal for information.
Detective Sergeant Barry Convery said: “Local officers, along with Scottish Fire and Rescue Services attended the fire and thankfully there were no reports of any injuries.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the cause of the fire.”
An investigation into the Easter Sunday fire is also ongoing, with police confirming it was being treated as wilful.
Anyone with information is urged to call Police Scotland on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The crowdfunder can be found here
