Let there be light

This picture shows a section of a stained glass window called The Adoration of the Magi by pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones., taken earlier today at the Old West Kirk in Greenock.
To the left of the shot is glass artist, Alec Galloway, who has worked on restoring many of the windows in this beautiful, intimate wee church.
I was in Greenock for a meeting about an exhibition of George Wyllie work at The Beacon Arts Centre which opens at the end of June.
Alec has told me a lot about the church and how it is now under threat after being joined to two other churches in Greenock.
Alec happened to be doing a free stained glass workshop under the Absent Voices banner in the adjacent Pirrie Hall so I took the opportunity to jump up to see the kirk's interior, dragging Wyllie Foundation curator, Lynne, along with me.
The building is famous for two reasons.
Firstly, it has one of the most incredible collection of stained glass windows in Scotland, many made in the studio of William Morris in the latter half of the 19th century. There is glass work here by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Daniel Cottier, as well as Burne-Jones.
Secondly, it is known for being moved brick by brick in the 1920s from its original location a short distance away to make way for shipyard development.
Everything was moved, even the gravestones - although not the bodies. One of the famous bodies interred in the cemetery was Mary Campbell, better known as the poet Robert Burns' muse, Highland Mary.
Looking around the church with Alec as an erudite and sympathetic guide, I got one of these art highs which leaves you a bit wired.
The windows are are fresh and zingy as the day they were made. The colour is ultra-intense and the stories writ large.
Alec is hoping that the building will be saved and turned into a stained glass museum/studio. If anyone can make it happen, he can.