A FORMER Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Brexit secretary (acting as a constituency MSP), the entrepreneur behind Scotland’s most successful soap range and the world’s best known graffiti artist have all become involved in a bid to solve Dunoon’s racist rock dilemma.

The Jim Crow stone, an odd-shaped rock, painted black, with giant eyes and big red lips, sits on the coast of Hunter’s Quay.

That it looks a bit Golliwog-like and shares a name with an American minstrel whose moniker became associated with segregation laws has left generations of locals and tourists feeling uneasy and ashamed.

But many supporters, locally and internationally, deny it is racist and claim it is called Jim Crow because its name is Jim and it looks a bit like a crow. It’s a piece of local history, which has existed for more than 100 years, and, they say, getting rid of it is no more than political correctness gone mad.

Over the years, the stone has been painted over, vandalised, and painted back, and on and on and on. Last week, one side was repainted with a small, thin white mouth.

But now, in the latest twist, Denice Purdie, the owner of Castle Toward, has appealed to Banksy to come to Dunoon and redesign the rock.

The businesswoman, who owns Purdies of Argyll and Kapital Residential Ltd, has booked out the entire front page of this week’s Dunoon Observer as an advert to make her plea to the reclusive artist.

“As a person who appreciates your work and your ability to see into the meaning of things that can at times go past others, can I ask you to please consider assisting us with your thoughts and talent to consider coming to Hunter’s Quay and designing a new image for this rock, one which reflects us for who we are as a society today?” she asks.

“A change from you would not only assist the nearby towns of Dunoon, Sandbank and Innellan with much needed tourism but would, I truly believe, leave a legacy which I feel sure no person would wish to alter.”

Purdie told the Dunoon Observer she had recently changed her opinion of the stone: “My story is the sad fact I was so naive and always loved Jim Crow, until I witnessed first hand the distress it caused someone I brought to the area.

“A chap from London, who I shall not name but who is a very successful businessman in his own right, was thrilled to be visiting a Scottish town and had such a positive imagination of what it would be like – yet when he saw the Jim Crow, he was most distressed and asked if it was even legal to have such an offensive welcome to visitors.

“I felt ashamed after I did my research, and since then have tried to find a way of moving forward with a change which allows our much-needed visitors to be greeted by something more positive – but to try and do it in as fair and balanced a way as possible.”

Banksy did not respond to The National’s requests for a comment.

The first record of “Jim Crow Stone” is on an 1864 Ordnance Survey map of Dunoon and the surrounding area. This was before the 1877 American Jim Crow segregation laws were enacted, but after the insulting 1828 song Jump Jim Crow gained notoriety, leading to “Jim Crow” being used as an insulting term for African Americans.

Late last year Neville Lawrence, the father of murdered teen Stephen Lawrence, who was holidaying in Argyll and Bute at the time, expressed his concern.

Lawrence, whose son was murdered in a brutal racially motivated attack in 1993, told the Dunoon Observer he was “really disappointed to see such a thing”.

He said: “I find it very disappointing that there is this thing that makes people feel very uncomfortable.”

That prompted locals John Kelsall and John Farrell to start a campaign to try to find a community-wide agreement on the future’ of the stone. They’ve been working with local MSP Michael Russell and Councillor Alan Reid.

And now, Russell has tasked the Very Rev Dr Elizabeth Lorna Hood, former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to come and help.

Russell said Dr Hood’s work with the Srebrenica UK charity made her an ideal person to tackle this thorny issue.

“I went to Bosnia with Lorna two and a half years ago and I know how passionate she is about ensuring that differences are talked through and solutions found,” he said.

“Along with Alan Reid I will be arranging a meeting for her to discuss the issue with local clergy, local politicians, the community council chairs and others and I hope that can start the process of finding an answer that works for everyone.”