Marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day

In Stirling, VE Day 80 will be commemorated at Stirling Castle on the 3^rd and 4^th of May through a Celebration Concert & Dance in the Great Hall, where visitors will be able to meet a variety of people from the 1940s and hear music from the era. You can find out more and book tickets here

We’re commemorating VE Day 80 by taking a closer look at the Stirling War Memorial on Corn Exchange Road. The memorial displays the names of 933 men from the First and Second World Wars, all of whom died for their country. This memorial was originally erected in 1922 to commemorate those who fell in the First World War. It was designed by local architect George R Davidson, who produced ‘an obelisk of a Scottish character’ which cost c.£2,300, around £66,832 in today’s money. Like many war memorials, this one was paid for by public subscription.

In 1949, the names of those who had fallen in the Second World War were added, and the updated memorial was unveiled on 14^th October 1949 ‘on a very fine autumn day’ by Field-Marshall Earl Haig, who was also given the freedom of Stirling. The memorial is a sandstone obelisk, with bronze plaques at its base. Hundreds of people lined the surrounding streets for the unveiling ceremony, with locals even leaning out of the Municipal Buildings windows and watching from nearby church towers. After the unveiling the families of the fallen laid wreaths in remembrance.

The Stirling War Memorial is Category B Listed and sits within the Stirling Town Conservation Area. In 2015 Stirling City Heritage Trust successfully applied for over £40,000 of funding from the Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund (War Memorials Trust) to repair the monument. 

This is just one of many different types of war memorials to be found across Stirling. Just opposite the Stirling War Memorial, down Corn Exchange Road, sits the Stirling Garden of Remembrance. At Stirling Castle, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders also have a Garden of Remembrance within the Queen Anne Garden.  The Stirling Book of Remembrance can be seen just up the street from the Stirling War Memorial in Stirling Central Library, and most towns and villages in the area have their own community war memorials.

Perhaps you could visit your nearest memorial to commemorate VE Day 80? If you do, you could also take pictures of the memorial and record its condition, then upload this information on the War Memorials Online website, anyone and everyone can contribute to this important national resource.

To find out more about war graves and war memorials see the links below:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC
• War Memorials Online - Help us to record, conserve and remember our war memorials
• War Memorials Trust