THIS Oban church bell once rang for the death of Queen Victoria and victory over Nazi Germany, but now it could make a perfect – if very large – doorstop, a musical bar stool, band kit or restoration project – for only 500 smackers.
Oban odd-job men Hector MacDonald, William Bonniwell and Jack Low were called to remove the 132-year-old bell from the spire of the Old Parish Church, Glencruitten, after its wooden support was deemed unsafe. The bell, cast in Sheffield in 1883, is older than the category C-listed church, which was built in 1893.
‘It has been in there all this time,’ Hector said. ‘We could not set up scaffolding inside because of the height of the tower, so we cut it up and lowered it down outside.’