A Shared History

Presented over three pages:
[ Before St Margaret's ] - [ The 20th Century ] - [ The Building ]

The Building

The original church building which went up at the end of the 1920s was erected by Lochgilphead contractors called Carmichael. There were oil lamps in the church and a coal burner for the central heating. The boiler had to be built below the level of the building because there were no pumps in those pre-electric days.

It wasn't until 1936 that Lochgilphead was electrified. Peter was the first apprentice employed by the Campbeltown and Mid-Argyll Electricity Company and was there to help electrify St Margaret's. That electrification was paid for by the Greene family of Greene's Playhouse in Glasgow, who used to come to Lochgilphead on holiday.

A plaque which read "Pray for the Greene family" disappeared long ago. We could, of course, pray for our benefactors without the plaque!

The building in its early years was very basic. There were chairs rather than pews and the walls had a cement finish which wept in damp weather (and it is often damp in Argyll!).

When a company called Hall of Aberdeen came to the area to build houses for the Forestry Commission, the manager, Henry Moir, took a look at the cement rendering and came up with a solution - he strapped the walls, gyp rocked and plastered them. Peter says: "He wasn't a Catholic. He did that out of friendship."

Peter adds: "By this time the congregation was growing. In summer a lot of visitors came because Sydney was there but social attitudes were changing too."

The original plain glass windows in metal frames were eventually replaced by stained glass windows donated by local families. Other donors included Irish workers, the local nurse, Fr Sydney McEwan and two of the Argyll and the Isles bishops.

The windows at the altar were given by the Ciarella, Capocci and Casci families. They could only, of course, be installed because the altar was brought forward and the wall behind it was exposed - during Fr Sydney McEwan's time in pre Vatican II days there had been a red velvet curtain draping that wall.

A wooden floor had been laid straight onto the concrete floor and in time that warped. It was replaced with a terrazzo floor when the new altar was installed. The chairs were replaced by pews during Fr Sydney McEwan's days. Improvements were paid for by the then central diocesan fund, which presumably means St Margaret's as well as the cathedral benefited from Sydney's singing tours!

Going Softly Forward

After his 17 year ministry, Fr McEwan went to Rothesay, leaving behind a garden which he and Peter Ciarella had fertilised, mowed and deadheaded within an inch of its life. Fr John McCormack (no - not the Irish tenor. We were not twice blessed with such talent!) who took his place didn't have the gardening bug and according to Peter the garden has never seen the same glory days again.

The front porch was built onto the front of the church in December 1987.

Parish priests have included the very different personalities of Fathers McIntyre, McShane, Kennedy, Murphy, Fraser and Campbell, and in 2003 came Fr Michael Hutson.

When Father Hutson arrived in Lochgilphead he was an unknown quantity. His first act was to tell parishioners swarming through the parish house after  his first Sunday Mass that this would be the last time we would have coffee there. It sounded unsociable- yet Fr Michael turned out to be the most gregarious of parish priests.

He transformed the parish house into a home and turned St Margaret's parish into a hive of activity. Justice and peace,SCIAF, Fair Trade and the Zambia projects all flourished with his encouragement and imaginative input. His musical talent gave congregations confidence to sing out. He galvanised the parish to come together through social activities and his outspoken policy of social inclusion drew the marginalised to share in ceilidhs and lunches, pilgrimages and musical retreats. Using music as a lingua franca, he reinforced ecumenical progress in Mid Argyll.

His role in education in the diocese meant he was frequently on the move but the blue tooth earpiece sticking out from under the baseball cap meant he was rarely out of touch with the parish.

When the word came suddenly in the first minutes of 2006 that he was to leave St Margaret's for the Star of the Sea in Barra, the sense of loss wasn't felt only by the parish but by the wider community; quiet kindnesses: enthusiastic involvement and serious- minded commitment in many spheres had made him a much loved figure in the two years he was with us.

We should not have feared: Fr Paul Hackett S J has come to us with a different collection of enthusiasms and inspired us to work together to present a vibrant parish to Fr William Maclean this summer.

The rest, as they say, is history: a much kinder history than that of the 16th and 17th centuries and even than that of the early 20th century when Catholics still felt the after shock of oppression.

It has happily become normal to worship freely, proud of the physical presence of our attractive church building and proud of the integral role which Catholics play in today's Mid-Argyll.

Article written by Marian Pallister