Village war memorial destroyed as community clubs together to help
Vandals have wrecked a row of trees that were planted in Neilston last year to commemorate sailors who died while saving a group of Norweigans from the Nazis, before they were brought to the village.
A Neilston war memorial in the form of a row of Norweigan birch trees has been torn apart by vandals.
Members of the community are scratching their heads at the act, which saw nine of the 27 completely destroyed.
They were planted by the Neilston War Memorial Association last year to commemorate American soldiers who died while saving Norweigans who were left for dead by the Nazis during World War Two's 'Arctic Convoys'.
The Scandinavians were then brought to a refugee camp at Kingston park in the East Renfrewshire village, where close bonds were born and grown with natives.
The crew from the SS Bacon saved 19 Norweigans who'd been left burnt out by retreating Nazis. Sadly, 27 of the Americans didn't survive the encounter, hence the number of trees planted.
East Renfrewshire councillor Paul O'Kane is part of the committee and said: "It's disappointing, particularly given the story that's around these trees.
"We had visitors from Norway from the communities that the refugees came from and they saw our plans for the site and had a ceremony in mind for Remembrance Sunday this year.
"I can't believe anyone would willfully want to snap a tree in two, the fact it's a memorial in honour of people who gave their lives to save others in the war makes it angering and disappointing.
"We've got a good relationship in the community with local people who help us financially and young people too, so it's disappointing that someone would choose to take this action."
Although emotions were tested by the vandalism, councillor O'Kane is proud that they've been channeled positively to find a solution.
He continued: "There was a lot of shock and anger at first but with that came people wanting to donate money and do something practical.
"We've had plenty of donations from local businesses and there are also people looking to see if the original trees can be salvaged. It's been a positive outcome from a really sad situation."
"We'll also put some signage in the park to let everyone know there's a memorial there, what it's there for and that it should be treated with respect at all time.
"The War Memorial Association will work to replace the trees and we'll look at making sure they're more secure in the future. We hope there's a greater deal of awareness and everyone is helping to look after the site."
"Everyone in the village though is showing it's a minority and wanting to make sure it doesn't happen again.
A donation page has been set up should anyone like to contribute to the cost of replacing the trees: