Villagers appeal for final push to help renovate Stirlingshire war memorial
Community activists in Plean are edging closer to their goal of raising enough funds to restore and clean up the village cenotaph.
Around £560 of the target has so far been raised thanks to an online crowdfunding appeal set up by Plean's Voice.
And the stalwarts are asking people to donate what they can to give the effort the final push.
In an online plea they said: 'We are looking to have the cenotaph cleaned up and all wording restored, to go along with our beautiful new planters and hanging baskets to brighten up our village.
'Our quote for this is £700. Can we as a village pull together and get this done, even £1 would help.'
Plean's voice is a local charity set up by residents to make the village 'a lovely, more fun place to live'.
The group hosts regular events throughout the year and has been successful in securing enhancements such as Christmas lights, and summer hanging baskets and tubs in recent years.
Their latest project hopes to ensure their prized war memorial is given the attention it deserves.
The cenotaph was unveiled on 6 August 1922 by General Sir Charles Munro, Bart., KCB, who commanded the Sixth Division in France during World War I.
There are now 77 names of the village's fallen heroes on the memorial - 59 from WWI and 18 from WWII.
Information published by the Imperial War Museum details how Mr Wallace Thorniecroft, of the Plean Colliery Company, presided at the unveiling ceremony in 1922, which was attended by 'a large concourse of people from the surrounding district'. Ex-servicemen paraded under Captain Thorniecroft, and other bodies present were the Boy Scouts, the Boys' Brigade, and the Girl Guides.
Mr Thorniecroft mentioned that the great majority of the 57 men whose names were recorded on the memorial enlisted voluntarily in the early days of the war.
General Monro meanwhile is reported as saying: 'From forge, from factory, from farm, and from shop the men came forward. The came with a high purpose; they saw the call of righteousness, the call of duty, the call of honour, and they never wavered.'
He said Scotsmen had every reason to be proud of their representatives in all these fields of battle, and 'therefore it was fitting that they should come there that day to unveil a memorial, as worthy as could be, of their great achievements'.
Newspaper reports at that time reported: 'It was said sometimes that memorials were not needed to these men, who unfaltering devotion to duty brought distinction to our arms.
'His [General Munro's] reply was that that it was highly necessary they should do all they could, by memorials or otherwise to keep before the younger generation the fine courage shown by those who came before them and to set them a high ideal.'
Following the unveiling, Lady Monro placed the first wreath, and her action was 'followed by many relatives of the deceased'.
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