Collapse of St Mary's Church refurbishment contractor

In fact, Lanark's parish priest Father Joe Brannigan said this week that he was "confident that work will resume very shortly" on the six figure restoration of the church building, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year while the parish of St Mary's itself marks its 150th year.

But his thoughts this week were primarily with the 170 now ex-employees of long-established Glasgow stonemasons Hunter Clark now out of work after the company went into administration.

He paid tribute to their craftsmanship, stating that they had done a "superb" job before their employer hit cash flow problems recently, causing the rate of work to wind down towards a complete halt.

For more information on this article, see this week's Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.