THE restored gates at the entrance to Helensburgh’s war memorial have been re-dedicated ahead of this weekend’s remembrance commemorations.

The gates to the Hermitage Park memorial, restored by blacksmith Michael McColgan, were officially opened by Jodie Keenan, a pupil at Hermitage Academy, whose great-uncle is among those named on the memorial.

All six Helensburgh churches were represented at Tuesday afternoon’s ceremony, at which Mark Dalton, chaplain at HM Naval Base Clyde, led the reading of a communal prayer, before Alison Holliman, from the Friends of Hermitage Park, read John McCrae’s famous First World War poem, In Flanders Fields.

The refurbished memorial will be fully open for local people to pay their respects this weekend on both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.

Though Hermitage Park itself is still undergoing major redevelopment work, temporary tape and fencing will lead visitors safely from all four entrances to the park, past work sites, to the memorial itself, which will be open from 9am until dusk on both Saturday and Sunday.

Jodie’s mother Susan Donnelly said how honoured her daughter was to help with the rededication ceremony, and how proud her father would have been of his granddaughter.

The park will be fully closed again from Monday, November 13 to allow refurbishment work to resume.