Plans to spruce up memorial
Bathgate’s war memorial is to be given some extra care and attention to spruce it up in time for next year’s Remembrance Day parade.
Andy Johnston, the council’s countryside manager, told a meeting of Bathgate’s Local Area committee that he was planning to meet with volunteers who maintain the Mid Street memorial, with a view to changing the planting in the area.
The idea is to have year-round colour in the flower beds.
Mr Johnston told the meeting: “When it gets to this time of the year it’s right at the end of the season and the beds don’t look particularly good, especially for Remembrance Day.
“We’ve had one or two issues with this through the years, with the maintenance of summer bedding, so I’ve asked Ann Collins, our cemetery officer, to meet with the British Legion and volunteers to see if we can start a discussion about putting in some form of annual bedding plants.
“The beds would be filled year round and not just for certain periods, so that would enhance the area.”
In August, Councillor Charles Kennedy won assurance that a team would tidy up the area around the memorial because of weeds.
He thanked Mr Johnston for his prompt response and said: ”It’s much appreciated.”
He added: “I presume this will stop weeds through the summer time?”
Mr Johnston replied: “We would look to basically weed the beds and we would mulch through the winter period. The idea behind this as well is that there’s a degree of colour. Just now it looks beautiful through to September but then we’re left with gaps.”
He said the plan was to have discussions with the Legion and volunteers about colour schemes .
Chairing the meeting, Councillor Harry Cartmilll suggested adding white chips.
Councillor Willie Boyle welcomed the initiative, adding: “At this year’s service I thought the place needed a wee bit of a lift. Could we look at having the epitaph cleaned.”
The council is in the process of procuring power washing equipment and Mr Johnston said he would be happy to add the area to a regular maintenance route.
Councillor Kennedy said that a friends of the memorial group had been advised on cleaning with a low pressure hot wash and were looking to take that forward.
He backed the inclusion of anti-weed matting and stone chips to tackle weeds at the memorial.
The memorial is situated next to St John’s Church. It was moved to its present site in May 1995 by BBC TV’s Challenge Anneka programme.
It’s was originally unveiled in November 1925 – designed by Messrs. Roberts and Hume, Architects and built by William Roberts and Sons, both of Bathgate.