It is a case of 'Let there be light' at the new Cumbrae Parish Church.

There had been high hopes that the church would be open in late November, and in plenty of time for Christmas but a power problem resulted in the plans to be put on hold.

But last Wednesday, the big switch on took place at the new £1m state of the art building on the island, although the official opening has been delayed until the new year.

Reverend Jonathan Fleming explained: "Following the electricity connection you have got to have a time of testing and commissioning.

"This will hopefully be done by Christmas, and I don't see there being a church service before the new year, and I am quite happy not to rush things through because if we get it wrong and things are missing it puts a dampener on how things go.

"The Presbytery have to come and visit it and see the work, and then there is building control, and we just want everything to be right.

"The official opening will probably be the middle of January - I would rather gentle soft services when there are no big festivals or events on, and I am hoping to bring some elders from St John's Church to have a look. The arrival of electricity was widely welcomed within the community, and the Church of Scotland are hoping to use the Cumbrae Church as a benchmark for opportunities to build new churches on the mainland.

Rev. Fleming said: "There is national interest - the general trustees of the church want to use the new Cumbrae Parish Church as an example of what can be done - if an island community can do this, surely mainland communities can do likewise.

"We have received lovely comments such as 'It was not what I expected and looks very warm and welcoming' - it is very encouraging."

Explaining what led to the initial power problem, Rev Fleming said: "SSE fitted the power.

"The wrong contract was issued for the wrong type of connection, and all credit to SSE, as soon as they worked out the error they rectified it and got a fitting done relatively quickly

"They weren't able to base the connection date on the old contract, and a new contract was set, and it is now up and running.

"The architects Linear Construction are back in and doing all their testing.

"There is still a bit of work that is to be done in terms of the audio and the visuals - there are screens and sound systems still requiring to be set up.

"There will be a series of open days, and the next job after the church is officially open will be to look at the surroundings and possibly have a community garden."

It has nearing the end of a four year wait for island parishioners after the old Cumbrae Parish Church had to suddenly close down in December 2014 due to a state of disrepair, and they have been used the Age Concern Hall on the island ever since for their weekly services.