A Highland war memorial which has undergone a major revamp has been named one of the best in Scotland.
The Aviemore and Rothiemurchus branch of Legion Scotland are celebrating after “years of hard work” paid off to land them joint first place in the memorial without gardens category in the Best Kept War Memorial Competition 2021.
They share the honour with the Dingwall and Fort William branches.
For the Aviemore group, the accolade was made possible after they secured £18,000 funding from Highland Council’s town centre fund.
Five years in the making
Jamie Curran, chairman of Royal British Legion Scotland Aviemore and Rothiemurchus branch, said members were thrilled at the outcome of the upgrade – which included creating bedding areas so flowers the colours of the Royal British Legion could be planted and the installation of a spotlight to keep the monument on show during winter.
He said: “This achievement is a culmination of about five years of planning and hard work with the aim of refurbishing the memorials setting.
“We wanted to improve the accessibility and layout in order for the branch and community to honour and reflect on the sacrifices of men whose names are engraved on the memorial in an appropriate and fitting surrounding.”
‘A fitting tribute’
Local councillor Bill Lobban said he was very proud of the effort involved.
“It’s made a fantastic difference,” he said. “It’s superb. Compared to what it was, it’s like night and day.
“It’s a very fitting tribute to those who gave everything. You now see people sitting there beside the war memorial that you never saw before and that’s only in a matter of weeks.”
The legion is now looking forward to hosting various events within the grounds.
Committee member Sharon Curran admitted before the works, the condition of the memorial was “letting us down.”
She said: “We applied to the Highland Council Town Centre Fund because we wanted to make our war memorial more of a focal point. On Remembrance Day, our colour party was standing in a puddle so we just wanted to get all that fixed.
“The current people we have on board in the committee are passionate. Our president was in the Army and is retired now and our chairman was in the Marines so we have a strong military background. We do a good parade, we have out Brownies, Guides, cubs and scouts and have a really good network with the community so we just felt when we were there it was almost letting us down.
“We look forward to being able to host more things for the community moving forward and raising funds for another bench on the other side.”
Recognition for the north and north-east
Legions across the north dominated the competition.
The Forres branch took home three prizes: Forres War Memorial, large community memorial with garden; Duffus War Memorial, satellite memorial with garden; Dallas War Memorial, satellite memorial without garden.
Golspie Legion won the small community memorial with garden category.
And Invergordon also enjoyed success, winning the new entry category for Alness War Memorial.