The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Hat-trick hope after clean-up
Competition: Lochaber war memorial spruced up for national award
Members of a Lochaber organisation are hoping a much-loved Fort William monument will complete the treble in a top competition.
Members of the Fort William and District Branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland, RBLS, rolled up their sleeves to give the war memorial in the town a special clean-up ahead of a top competition next month.
The Fort William war memorial has come out top in its category for the past two years and now the branch’s 70 members are keeping their fingers crossed for a hat-trick.
Kevin Lane, chairman of the local branch, said: “The RBLS runs the Best Kept War Memorial Competition every year and we have been lucky enough to win our category in the Highlands and Islands section for the past two years.
“But last time we were marked down because of mildew on the statue itself so, as it hasn’t been cleaned for three years, we decided to go ahead and do it.
“Our committee member, David Brady, co-ordinated the whole thing and, because of the height of the statue, we had to obtain an elevated work platform.
“Luckily Callum Ross, who works with the Forestry Commission, came to our aid and not only operated the platform but cleaned the statue.”
Mr Lane added: “A pressure washer was used to clean the stone and whitechipped granite has been donated which will be used to go with the floral displays.
“The town team always plants the flowerbed for us and this is being done on Sunday, June 4.”
Fort William’s war memorial is in the middle of the town’s Parade, but doesn’t have its own remembrance garden.
The branch chairman said: “It’s really a bit weird the way things are, but we have to enter the ‘monument without a garden’ category of the competition as ours hasn’t got a dedicated garden beside it.
“But ours looks magnificent after its clean and tidy up which took around three hours to complete. The weather was drizzly and miserable, but it didn’t stand in the way of the team’s efforts.
“I want to thank everyone who came along to help and all those who donated items – their support is very much appreciated.”
The branch is now planning on ways to improve the memorial even further for future competitions.
“Last time we were marked down because of mildew on the statue”