Hansard

I, too, thank and pay tribute to Meghan Gallacher for bringing this important debate to the chamber, and I wish her well in her maternity leave.

The motion is correct that

“memorials hold a very special place within the hearts of”

our communities, and I am sure that most of us in the chamber have paid tribute at such memorials to those who died fighting for their country. They are a reminder of what we lost and the sacrifices that were made.

I have had the honour many times of laying a wreath at the war memorial that is situated near the centre of Coatbridge, which Meghan Gallacher also talked about, and at the war memorials at Glenboig, Gartcosh and other locations across my constituency of Coatbridge and Chryston. I have laid the wreath at Coatbridge for six years as an MSP, and did so as a councillor before that. It goes back even further to when I was a young boy in the Boys Brigade and we went there on memorial day.

The Coatbridge memorial pays tribute to those who lost their lives in the first and second world wars. As the former MSP Elaine Smith said in the Parliament a few times, it was designed by Edith Burnet Hughes, who was an important figure in Scottish architecture, as she was considered to be Britain’s first practising woman architect. The memorial was first unveiled in 1924, which means that this special memorial is fast approaching its 100th birthday. I am sure that Meghan Gallacher and I, along with others, will be at events to commemorate that in a couple of years.

Clare Adamson mentioned a personal connection to the war memorial in her area; similarly, the name Joseph Simpson, who was my mum’s uncle whom she never met, is inscribed on the Coatbridge memorial. He would be my great uncle, and I am very proud that his name is inscribed there.

The motion, as Meghan Gallacher has talked about, is, sadly, about the vandalism that can sometimes occur to memorials. The memorial in Coatbridge has been subject to several acts of vandalism. During the six years that I have been an MSP, I have had to stand up during First Minister’s question time on a couple of occasions to condemn the vandalism. What was written on the war memorial was absolutely disgusting, and the local community and I were rightly outraged. Over the past couple of years, there has not been anything—I hope that that continues and that I do not find myself having to stand up in the chamber this year to condemn it. Attacks on any cenotaph are a direct attack on the memory of the men who fought and died for their country. They came from different backgrounds and were of all faiths and of none.

I know that the situation is different from the one that Stephen Kerr spoke about, which was about moss, but I have to say that North Lanarkshire Council reacted very quickly—as it did in the situation in Motherwell that Meghan Gallacher spoke about—and cleaned up the graffiti on the memorial. I pay tribute to the council for doing that.

I will spend the rest of my time talking about two local men who have contributed greatly to ensuring that the war memorial pays tribute to everyone who lost their life. Jenni Minto made a point about people being reminded of the value and importance of such people. In the previous session of Parliament, I spoke about both those men in a members’ business debate.

Les Jenkins, who is a former teacher—indeed, he was my history teacher just a couple of years ago—first had the idea around 35 years ago of a project to mark the centenary of the end of the conflict. He involved his history pupils at Coatbridge high school, and completed it in his retirement. He compiled the stories of all 863 first world war fallen who are on the Coatbridge cenotaph. Les’s biographies of the Coatbridge soldiers are contained in a series of folders that members can access in the local studies room at Airdrie library, if they are interested.

The other gentleman whom I will talk about is John McCann. John has a website that is the culmination of more than a decade of research. He travelled across Europe to piece together scraps of information that were recorded about the brave fighting men from Coatbridge who lost their lives during the great war. When Mr McCann learned that no research had been done on the men whom the memorial commemorates, he decided to collect information himself, and his website now lists all the names. There has been a lot of support from family and friends of the fallen who have found out information about their loved ones. I am sure that members will agree that that is incredibly important work.

I hope to meet John soon—he now lives in Northern Ireland—and Les Jenkins and I are looking to set up a meeting. When we get it set up, I would be happy to extend an invite to Meghan Gallacher to come along to it, if she can fit that in, given her maternity leave.