THE MONUMENTS TODAY

Above - The Killin memorial as it appeared in the 1920's.  The Falls of Dochart below, and the Ben Lawers and Ptarmigan range in the distance,  provided the monument with a magnificent backdrop and lended it the kind of grandeur which can still be seen in the monuments at Spean Bridge and Glenfinnan.  The memorial did attract widespread attention and featured in a number of newspaper articles and many postcards like this one.

Unfortunately the banks are covered in trees today and the monument is still partially hidden from visitors as they approach the village (although work has ben done recently to clear some of this).  It is really now only visible from the front and most people miss it as they pass in their cars.  The people who live in the cottages opposite may prefer the trees, but it seems a pity. When writing to the South African Scottish war memorial committee regarding the intended site of their memorial Carrick wrote that 'A good site either makes or marrs a memorial'.

In the coming years Carrick's monuments will reach their first centenary having stood for a hundred years in all weathers (and now including the modern problem of acid rain).  The environments in which they were first erected have often changed with growing populations, increasing road traffic and even the advent of vandalism in many communities.  The care of community war memorials is, or should be, an important issue.

Above - the stone at the tip of the Pretoria soldier's nose has been chipped off although it look as though repairs are in hand