Plans to move city memorial to Korean War troops

PLANS are afoot to move a war memorial tucked away behind a locked gate to a more accessible city centre location.

The Korean War Memorial sits within a garden just off the Old High Street in Perth.

The Association of Perth Veterans is looking to move the memorial to the North Inch.

The Korean War began on June 25 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following border clashes. It ended in July 1953. Nearly 60,000 British combat troops were deployed and 1,100 British soldiers were killed in the conflict.

The memorial is currently attached to a wall in the garden of the New Row building Perth Autism Support recently took over from VisionPK.

However the garden can only be accessed via a gate which requires a key to unlock it. The plan is to move the memorial to a more prominent position alongside existing war memorials on the North Inch.

Perth Conservative councillor Chris Ahern, chairman of the Association of Perth Veterans, said: “Perth and Kinross Council is still working out how to fix the plaques to the wall which is part of the flood defence. It’s not forgotten. There is a future for it.

“We will have a proper service and dedication once it is in place.”

Angie Ferguson, chief executive of Perth Autism Support, said: “The memorial has sat in the garden for a number of years and we were aware of this when we moved into the property.

“We were advised when we moved in by the association that they were keen to move the memorial to be more accessible to the public, which we fully support. The memorial is still accessible by anyone who wishes to pay their respects.

“The memorial is not impacting any use of the garden for our young people, and we are not in any rush to have this moved from the site, but we would support the association in their decision to allow this to be more accessible and visible to our wider community.”

WORK transforming historic South Church in Monifieth into four luxury homes is complete.

Originally built in 1872, South Church became surplus to requirements in 2014. Since then the category C-listed building at the corner of Queen Street and Hill Street has been empty. It was placed on the buildings at risk register in 2016.

A plan to convert it into a two-storey, fivebedroom home was passed by council planners in 2017 before the owner backed away from this due to a conversion cost estimate of £800,000.

Monifieth company J&T Empire, run by Harry Tierney and Marc Jackson, bought the premises

A ROBBER who held up a 78-year-old shop worker later tried to steal a till from another store.

Barry Stewart first struck on September 11 2019 at the Court Street News shop on Court Street, near where he had been living in Dundee.

The 31-year-old struggled with pensioner Mohammed Khan, before assaulting him and escaping with more than £700 in cash.

On February 1 this year, Stewart then went into the Value Mart store in Dundee’s Dundonald Street after it closed for the evening but staff were still inside. This raid was also captured on CCTV.

Stewart swung a Stanley knife at owner Mohammed Allaudin, who bravely challenged the thug.

Stewart then appeared set to leave but returned to grab the till.

Despite repeatedly trying to yank it away, he was unable to do so as it was still plugged into the wall. Stewart was forced to escape empty-handed and was soon arrested.