Operation Megalithic Lift - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 203

It needed a moment's thought. But when we had come so far,
and I was confident, I took the plunge and said, “All right, let's
do it.” Ken Naylor's initial requirement that I be self-motivated
and work without direction had come home to roost in a way that
neither he nor I had anticipated. I wonder if I would have the nerve
to do it today.
Trenches had now been prepared in four arcs to surround the
central stone, each lined at the base with reinforced concrete. The
lunar stones were to be slung from the blades of two earthmoving
machines, placed on the reinforced concrete base of the trench, and
aligned using the 'working photographs' to match up their posi-
tions. Each stone would then be wedged in place with beams and
propped up on pieces of brick about the base, before boards were
placed across the foundation trench and quick drying cement was
poured to bury it by up to one third of its height. The operation
was originally scheduled for March 18, and I drove up from Irvine
to Glasgow through a blinding snowstorm. Jimmy, the Sportworks
foreman, gallantly came to the site office to meet me, but it was
obvious that the operation had to be postponed.
The next day the weather was fine, with thin snow on the
muddy ground, though the air grew misty later. The Sportsworks
operation on the hilltop began early. Jimmy explained that one JCB
would be active, one passive, as the stones were maneuvered. “But
don't worry, this guy [driving the active machine] is so good he could
load and unload eggs.” The first stones to be erected were the north-
ern moonrise ones for the major and minor standstills, flanking the
space for the midsummer sunrise stone, under my supervision. It
was a thrill to see the first stones upright, so many months after we
had chosen them. Joining me as we moved from the northeast arc
to the southeast, John Braithwaite was quite emotional: “Christ, it's
beautiful. I never thought it would look this good.” Gavin Roberts
then took over, working sunwise around the circle, leaving the gaps
into which the helicopter would place the remaining stones, while
I went to a press conference at the City Chambers, also attended
by Fraser, Naylor, Dr. Roy, Archie Thom, and Councillor Robert
Logan, Chairman of Glasgow District Council's Civic Amenities
Committee. Roy said it was appropriate that this tribute to the early
astronomers should be paid just when the Voyager 1 spacecraft was
reaching Jupiter as our most advanced probe into the universe to