Kilwinning: Matchstick man Jim completes 103rd church model

Hevisited St. Marnock's Church, Kilmarnock, on Sunday, September 24, when he presented a matchstick model of the church to Rev Jim McNaughton and his congregation.

This model took over seven months to complete and was Jim's 103rd, all built over a period of 28 years.

So far, there are 98 of his model churches all over in Scotland, ranging from Colmonell in South Ayrshire to Fettercairn in Aberdeenshire.

There are also four in North West Wales and one in Ahrensfelde, near Berlin, Germany.

Born in Dalry, Jim took up the hobby of matchstick model making around 1994/5 when he became a volunteer in the Abbey Tower Heritage Centre in Kilwinning, where he now resides.

Before then, he had been making a number of small matchstick model kits when he was the Crafts Class Officer with 1st Dalry Boys’ Brigade in the 1970s - 1990s.

His first serious model was of the stunningly beautiful Eglinton Castle.

By 1995, Jim had developed an interest in making models of churches and when the Church of Scotland told the congregation of Mansefield Church in Kilwinning that they would be moving to another location, Jim decided he would build a matchstick model of the church as a memento.

Once complete, Jim gifted the model to the church congregation, as he has done with every church model since.

Jim's work is not confined to churches, however. His model of Portencross Castle now has pride of place in the castle’s Great Hall.