By Jonathan Watson

A FORMER Royal Marines commando from Fife has received a letter from the Prime Minister praising him for his work in restoring a local war memorial.

Ian Davidson (72) received the letter from Gordon Brown after his efforts to have the site of the Kinghorn memorial landscaped ahead of this week’s Remembrance Sunday commemoration.

Mr Davidson, who served in countries such as Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Australia between 1953-65, has dedicated much of his life to the preservation of war memorials all over the world through the Friends of War Memorials charity—now the War Memorials Trust which he founded in 1995.

The Prime Minister’s letter congratulated Mr Davidson on his efforts to maintain the Kinghorn memorial, a process that Mr Davidson says would have been impossible without the assistance of Fife Council.

He said, “Fife Council have been fantastic in helping with this project.

“I’ve never known a war memorial to be cleaned up so quickly.

“They have taken out the old plants and have now put in seasonal plants to keep the site looking good all year round.

“Next year we are hoping to have access ramps installed so that everyone can gain access to the memorial easily—we should all be able to honour our war dead.”

Mr Davidson, whose granddaughter is serving in the Royal Signals in Afghanistan, has also asked for greater security measures for war memorials around the country.

It comes after a recent act of vandalism to the memorial in Methil, one of numerous incidents that are reported across the country every year.

He added, “I would certainly like to see more security for our war memorials such as CCTV.

“In countries like Argentina and the United States they even provide guards at some of their memorial sites and it’s not too much to think that could happen here as well.”

A meeting will take place in Kinghorn this week to determine a timetable for Remembrance Sunday proceedings at the site.