By Leeza Clark

CAIRNEYHILL Heritage Group is ensuring local wartime memories will never be forgotten.

Members of the group have embarked on research to publish two booklets on the west Fife village’s war memorial and on Myre End gun site.

They are appealing for Courier readers to share their memories and reminiscences and help bring that era to life for a new generation.

Group member Sarah Dallman and secretary Lesley McNaughton said the booklets are part of a larger project which started with an initiative to restore the watch tower in the local churchyard.

A booklet was produced around a quarter of a century ago on the history of the village, and plans were hatched to update that when the decision was made to produce a booklet on the war memorial, added Sarah, who is leading this part of the project alongside David Richards.

“The memorial has the names but it doesn’t tell you much about the people behind the names,” she said. “So we are researching to try and find out more.”

While it has been relatively straightforward to find information on some of the men, there are four servicemen who lost their lives while fighting in the second world war who remain a mystery.

They are George Philp from the Royal Garrison Artillery, James Philp of The Black Watch, Michael Conoboy of the Royal Garrison Artillery and William Ramsay of The Black Watch Royal Highlanders.

She said there was much interest in tracing ancestors thanks to the likes of the BBC Who Do You Think You Are? series, and it was hoped this could help in compiling this booklet.

In return, their research may help families also searching for information on loved ones.

Lesley and husband Andrew are leading a team on a second book on the second world war anti-aircraft battery at Myre End Farm. While much is known about the site—which had 3.7-inch guns, later upgraded to 4.5-inch gun emplacements, a command post, guard room, magazines and barracks—little is know about the men who were stationed there.

The battery is derelict and home only to cows.

During the war it was home to men of the Royal Artillery 36AA Brigade— 71 HAA Rgt RA (TA) from 1939-42 and 158 HAA Rgt RA (TA) from 1942-43.

But in fact it is not military records, but those of the local school, which have described some of the action seen at Myre End, as details of air raid warnings with gunfire were noted in the school log.

This included one entry from May 1941 which reported that a four-hour alert and gunfire which ended in the wee small hours caused the school to open late at 10 am.

Village hall records show that the army hired the institute, as it then was, for regular dances to be held there, and football matches were staged.

“We are trying to get in touch with people who were stationed there or those who may have had relatives there or who attended and socialised with them at the dances,” said Lesley.

Both said that the group was working closely with the village primary school to make sure the past is not lost and is brought vividly to life for the youngsters of today.

“We are closely involved and the pupils have been very interested in it. What we are trying to do is show that these people were more than a list of names on a memorial, that they were our young men.”

Now the group wants to hear from anyone who could help with either search. They would like information on the four names mentioned or anyone who was stationed at Myre End or who knew someone there, or from those who remembered the soldiers in the village during that time. They are also looking for photographs of the site as it was then.

Anyone who can help should telephone 01383 880096 or Email CairneyhillHG@aol.com