Walk any street in the centre of Insch and you will struggle to miss them.
Red paper hearts hung up in windows, eye-catching canvas shopping bags and big, white banners adorning garden fencing, they outweigh the political leaflets and flags more commonly seen days from an election.
And the subject of this outpouring of support? Insch War Memorial Hospital.
Campaigners looking to save it from permanent closure have now been given a boost as Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, backed up a manifesto pledge with a claim failure to reopen would be “unacceptable”.
Her party has already unveiled plans for a £10 billion reserve to renew, upgrade and prolong the life of community healthcare facilities – specifically naming Insch as an example given the tight race expected in the Aberdeenshire West constituency.
It would have been hard for her to miss the level of community support for the hospital as she walked down the village’s Commerce Street on Thursday.
Serving Insch for very nearly 100 years, the facility has spent the entirety of the pandemic closed; deemed unviable to run while Covid-19 restrictions remain in place.
The NHS Grampian community hospital normally has 11 beds for patients only requiring the care of a GP or those in rehabilitation following surgery or illness, as well as a palliative care suite.
And its return, retaining its beds to allow local treatment, is of the highest priority for the outspoken numbers of the Friends Of Insch Hospital charity.
‘Don’t forget about Insch Hospital!’: the issue dominated campaign visit to Aberdeenshire village
During a campaign visit to the Aberdeenshire village, the first minister was lobbied first-hand on the matter.
Alasdair McCallum, a past chairman of Friends Of Insch Hospital, good-naturedly heckled her between media interviews at the Bennachie Leisure Centre.
“Don’t forget about Insch Hospital!” he shouted.
Ms Sturgeon replied: “I won’t, and even if I did (SNP candidate) Fergus Mutch wouldn’t let me!”
Before he left, Mr McCallum told us: “It is reassuring to hear her support as hers is the government of the day and the polls suggest the SNP will be the government of tomorrow too.
“There is a manifesto commitment of funding for hospitals like Insch.
“While there is a commitment to keeping it open, we want a commitment to keeping the number of beds and she was supportive of that.”
He cycled off from the community centre with the answer he had been looking for, having found the opportunity to speak to the SNP leader.
It really was 100 photo opportunities in one several-hours-long press job, which included suffering a heavy defeat to some very dominant youngsters at duck, duck, goose.
Recovering after another bitter blow coming in a foot race across the gym hall, the SNP leader said: “I am determined Insch War Memorial Hospital will reopen and I think any suggestion it wouldn’t is unacceptable.
“While the health board is the decision-maker here, as first minister I would not find it acceptable to have a hospital like this not reopening.
“So committed are we to it, that we have included in our plans for capital investment.
“We are prepared as a government, if re-elected, to make the funding available to the health board, not just to reopen it but to do work to give it a long term, sustainable future.
“I don’t think the alternative is acceptable to me, or to local people.”
Criticism: NHS Grampian underfunding ‘undoubtedly’ the cause of Insch concerns
The future of local hospitals has also been pledged by the Scottish Conservatives – with criticism of underfunding to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds of the north-east’s health board.
Aberdeenshire West candidate Alexander Burnett, defending his seat, said: “The work of the Friends of Insch War Memorial Hospital has been incredible and I applaud them for their tireless efforts.
“However, they need to be supported and given reassurances that this hospital will be treating patients again soon. While Insch might be a small community, this hospital has treated over 1,600 people in the last five years alone.
“That level of service cannot be downgraded or even worse, lost from this community.
“NHS Grampian was underfunded by £239 million over the course of a decade under the SNP, which has undoubtedly led to increasing centralisation of local healthcare settings.
“If I am re-elected as the MSP for Aberdeenshire West, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with local campaigners and fight for the minor injury to re-open as a top priority.”