Light brought back to '˜iconic' St Andrews Cathedral

The St Andrews Partnership has been working to restore the lighting at the cathedral ahead of St Andrews Day.

At 6.30pm this evening (Friday), the new lights will be switched on at St Andrews Cathedral, where a pipe band will play before leading a procession through the town.

New cabling has been installed, while LED lighting means running costs will be much cheaper than before.

“The university has been lit up, the golf course has been lit up, but the iconic image in the town, and the reason for St Andrews existing, is the cathedral,” explained Jo Roger from the partnership.

“It’s been terrible to see that end of the town in darkness since the lights went out.”

Jo, who has been working with fellow partnership member Lindsay Matheson, said this had been the most popular project she had worked on, adding: “People have been looking forward to the lights coming on.”

The installation of the new lights at the cathedral has been a community effort.

The Pilgrim Trust, Fife Enterprise Trust, R&A, St Andrews Community Trust and Kinburn Trust have all supported the project. And Jo said that without the help of Ronnie Grant from RB Grant Electrical Contractors, “we would not be switching these lights on”.

The running costs of the lights are to be covered by the University of St Andrews.

A spokesman for the university said: “This project has been a fantastic community effort which has only been possible with the hard work of a group of volunteers.

“We offered to lend our support by meeting the very modest annual cost of the electricity. We’re able to fund this from savings made by pursuing our own green energy initiatives.

“The history of cathedral and the university are inextricably linked and we hope the lights project will enable townspeople, the university community and visitors to fully appreciate this landmark for years to come.”