At the January meeting of the Stewartry U3A, Paul Goodwin told members of the many War Memorials of Galloway and of the men and women who were remembered on them.
He started his talk by quoting from the famous poem of remembrance “In Flanders Fields” written by Canadian, John McCrae, whose father had been born in Laurieston.
Paul said that there were many different types of memorials from the large, often granite structures, to rolls of honour and stained glass windows. The first memorial which he showed was the Waterloo Memorial on the hill above New Abbey and which is unusual in that it commemorates the Battle of Waterloo rather than those who had died there.
In Balmaclellan there is a rare memorial to those from the parish who were killed during the Crimean War. On the hillside there is a memorial to John Murray, son of the minister, who was killed during the First World War. The memorial had become enclosed by forestry but Paul had arranged for the area around it to be cleared and a path to make it accessible.
The style of the Dalry war memorial is typical of many in Scotland with a Celtic Cross while the Kirkcudbright war memorial has a warrior with a shield, a maquette of which is held in Broughton House. These and similar war memorials provide a focus for the annual act of remembrance.
At Dundrennan there is a memorial plaque to those who were killed when a plane crashed into a house during the Second World War.
Of rolls of honour, in New Galloway town hall there is one designed by the artist Jessie M. King and below which she had designed a plaque “Symbolism of Flowers”. The Castle Douglas Roll of Honour is now in the Community Centre and Paul told of locating a Post Office roll of honour behind hanging coats.
In many churches there are stained glass war memorial windows, and one by the famous Scottish stained glass artist Douglas Strachan is in Buittle church and another by Douglas Hamilton is in the former church at Beeswing.
In closing his talk Paul emphasised the importance of caring and maintaining all forms of War Memorials in order that the fallen be remembered.