Buckie community unites to honour centenary of town’s war memorial
A century of commemorating the war fallen has been honoured at a special service.
Veterans were joined by members of the community to mark the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of Buckie’s war memorial in Cluny Square.
Leading the service, which began at 12 noon on Saturday, April 12 was Rev Canon Jeremy Paisey from Buckie All Saints Episcopal Church.
The ceremony was opened by Andrew Simpson, the Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire.
He said: “We stand here today, united in purpose and in memory.
”We stand here today to dedicate this sacred ground, the Buckie town veterans’ memorial. This is in the form of a massive pedestal base, with panels bearing bronze plaques of names. This is surmounted by two bronze figures, a kneeling Royal Navy reservist in front of a bare-headed Gordon Highlander, bearing a colour, with rifle slung over one shoulder.
“The memorial was first unveiled on the 21st of April 1925, exactly 100 years to the day. It was unveiled by Lieutenant Colonel John Dawson, DSO and also in attendance was Private George McIntosh, VC, Gordon Highlander.
“The memorial was unveiled to commemorate all those who'd fallen in World War I, 1914 to 1918. All those from the Buckie area, and in total there were 229 names from all three services. A commemorative paving stone for Private McIntosh, beside the war memorial, was unveiled in August 2017.
“After World War II, 1939 to 1945, there was another commemoration ceremony on the 8th of November 1953, where a total number of 116 names from the Buckie town area were added after World War II.”
During the service, Pipe Major Ian Flaws played the haunting lament Flowers of the Forest on the pipes while bugler Janet Winterbourne played both the Last Post and Reveille.
Wreaths were laid at the memorial in memory of the fallen from conflicts across the globe.
Also among the guests at the service were Maj (Ret) Maurice Gibson, Lt Col (Ret) Gordon McKen, MSP Karen Adam and Councillor Sonya Warren.
Commissioned by the then Buckie Town Council in 1921, the memorial was designed by John Kinross and sculpted by William Birnie Rhind.
Doing the honours on April 12, 1925 was Lt Col John Dawson DSO who dedicated the memorial to the memory of all the local men who had perished in World War I. As mentioned by Mr Simpson, one of the guests of honour was none other than George McIntosh, Buckie’s sole winner of the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest military honour for valour in the presence of the enemy.
