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Bill Cant

Bill Cant was an ideal choice to be minister of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall in 1968, writes Johnston McKay. His combination of evangelical fervour and social concern had already led to successful ministries in a Stirlingshire mining community and in Leith. But the legend of St Magnus appealed to Cant's natural romanticism. The small, red Orkney cathedral captured his imagination. And his fierce determination ensured that by the time he retired in 1990, people knew where St Magnus Cathedral was on the map.

Bill Cant was a powerful, energetic preacher and a natural radio and television broadcaster. In acts of worship transmitted from the cathedral, he never missed an opportunity to describe the story of the martyr St Magnus, or to draw on the writing of George Mackay Brown, Edwin Muir or Eric Linklater for an apt illustration.

In the 1970s, Bill led a world-wide appeal to restore the cathedral, and he gave every encouragement to the young cathedral organist, Norman Mitchell, and composer Peter Maxwell Davies to start what has grown into the very successful annual Orkney Festival.

Bill was made a chaplain to the Queen in Scotland in 1975, and when St Magnus Cathedral celebrated its 850th anniversary in 1987, he made good use of his royal connections.

Full story at The Herald.