New Govan High memorial unveiled

Wednesday 4 June 2014

School staff, pupils and a number of very distinguished guests assembled in Govan High School to unveil a new War Memorial. The memorial being unveiled was to seven teachers from the old Govan Parish School Board who had lost their lives in the First World War.

Voluntary School Archivist Ian McCracken spent much time in the Mitchell Library last year discovering which members of staff had perished. It became apparent to him that only Govan High of the seven schools remained, so he proposed to then Headteacher Iain White that a new Memorial should be commissioned so that the sacrifice of the seven would not be forgotten

Invitations were sent to the universities associated with the men, and Sir Ken Calman, Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, Professor Donald Christie, Head of the Department of Education at the University of Strathclyde and Mr Nigel Lindsay representing the University of Aberdeen all accepted the invitation on behalf of their respective universities. Also in attendance were Mr Ken Muir, Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council and, also from the GTC, Mr Martin Osler, Head of Communications. They were joined by Ms Katie Dargie,(Glasgow City Council Heritage Officer), Ms Allana Hughes (War Memorials Trust), Ms Lorna Innes (First World War Project Officer, Glasgow City Council, Mrs Moira Rankin (Chief Archivist, University of Glasgow) amongst others

Guests were presented with a commemorative booklet and then led by pupils to the foyer of the school, where the new Memorial was unveiled by staff member and Cadet Force Officer Lieutenant Eddie Grady. Speaking on behalf of all the guests, Sir Ken offered a vote of thanks, describing the event as very poignant and memorable and asked everyone to join him in thanking Govan High for organising it.

View the original news story on Govan High School's blog here.