Sincere thanks go out today to local man, John Dunsmore (Wee Yanni) whom, in the last couple of days took time out and at his own cost, to repair and renovate the wording on the High Blantyre Pit Memorial.
Following our clean up of the memorial at Kirkton last week, John noticed that the wording on the plaque was looking a little lacklustre, and having experience and skill in this trade, decided to carefully renovate the words.
The process including painting over the words in black and leaving this on overnight, prompting a few people contacting us thinking the words had been vandalised! (pictured) However, a quick message however put them right that this was part of the work.
The next day, the excess paint was cleaned off very carefully, leaving a finished neat job! If this wasn’t enough, John also ventured into the nearby Kirkyard and cleaned up the ‘Steeple Cairn’ plaque using similar methods.
John, if you remember was a winning recipient earlier this year at our “Blantyre Oscars” awards for his care and attention to various plaques and memorials throughout Blantyre. He is well known and respected throughout Blantyre.
This week saw the 140th Anniversary of that terrible Pit disaster and along with the recent washdown, the memorial is now looking great. The council have now been approached about repainting the entire structure.
A huge thanks go out again to ‘Wee Yanni’ for his civic pride which clearly is appreciated by us all.