Memorials

The Lothians bench was donated by the Lothians and Border Horse Regimental Association and dedicated in 2007. The bench is situated close to the Sir Walter Scott Monument in Princes Street, Edinburgh.
The dedication on the bench reads as follows:

Lothians and Border Horse Yeomanry bench dedication (Edinburgh)

Lothians and Border Horse Yeomanry window in Dunbar

The window is one of a pair which face each other across the aisle. The North Window is dedicated to the Royal British Legion, Scotland.

The theme is 'the word of God' which was inspired by the text from Isaiah 55: 10,11. The text quoted in the window.

As the passage relates directly to God's word, it is tied in symbolically with the parable of the sower (Matthew 13: 4 - 23) which metaphorically describes how the word of God is received by man in different ways. God is represented by the dove of the Holy Spirit, which is hovering in the heavens. A beam of light descends to earth implying God's word and love reaching down to Earth. The seed representing God's word is sown and the grain prospers, nourished by the rain mentioned in the text. A vine also grows and bears fruit. The vine symbolises the church and the grapes represent the flourishing of faith (see John 15). Together, the grapes and the grain represent Holy Communion.

Among the seeds (the Word) which fell to Earth,
Some fell by the wayside and were snatched up and eaten by the birds of the air. This stands for the person who receives the Word without understanding so evil comes and carries off the word sown in his heart.
Some fell among rock s and sprang up quickly but because the soil was shallow and they were without root they quickly withered in the sun and died. This stands for the person who hears the Word and accepts it quickly with joy. However, when trial and adversity come, because the Word has no root in him, he soon loses faith.
Some fell among thorns and sprouted but the thorns grew up and choked them. This represents the person who hears the Word by the worries of the world and the lure of riches choke the Word and he produces nothing.
Finally, some fell on good ground where it blossomed and produced fruit a hundredfold. This stands for the person who hears the Word and understands it and believes in it. He is the one who yields a great harvest.

Below the ploughed soil is the rock which symbolises the church or Christ. From the rock flows the fountain of four rivers which represents the four Gospels. The stalks of corn are gathered into a sheaf known as a 'garb' in heraldry. This is the insignia of the Lothians and Border Horse Yeomanry which is understood to represent the farmlands of the Lothians. The insignia of the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps are in the lower left and right corners respectively.

Lothians and Border Horse Yeomanry memorial in Dunbar

This window, dedicated in June 1990, is a gift from the Highland cities and towns of Scotland and commemorates fifty years of their special association with the people and township of St. Valery en Caux. An association which has also led to the twinning of St. Valery with Inverness and began in the difficult circumstances of 1940 when the German army converged on the town and the combined allied forces comprising the French 9 St Corps and the 51st Highland Division.

The total design concept has an underlying feeling of turbulence appropriate to the events remembered but avoids any direct war imagery which seems out of place within the church, relying rather on symbolic imagery, colour form to suggest ideas and stimulate the enquiring mind to discover and interpret the meanings within the window.

The window shows the harbour inlet and town of St. Varlery within an aerial landscape incorporating the surrounding countryside which was involved in the action of 1940, together with the abrupt division by the cliffs between it and the sea which were both of extreme significance to the events of the time.

Intentional within the design is also a visual parallel to the imagery and concepts suggested in Revelation 12 of good prevailing and the casting our of evil. The harbour channel and surrounding town of St. Valery, a central area of red and orange to depict the destruction and fires of battle, can also be seen as being, "clothed in the sun and fires of battle, can also be seen as being "clothed in the sun with the moon under her feet"! (Rev. 12 v1) with the harbour itself "giving birth" into the sea and towards possible freedom.

The outer perimeter of flames forms a king of wreath around the town within which are entwined roses and thistles in reference to the joint action and to evoke the words of General de Gaulle in Edinburgh on June 23rd 1942 when he remembered the thousands of Scots whose blood was shed with the French during the previous war, the monument to their memory at Buzancy with its inscription and medallion referencing roses and thistle, and added "if the roses of France are blood-stained today, they still cluster lovingly around the thistle of Scotland".

The encircling oppressive forms in the lower section of the window represent the advancing German army. These are arranged in blocks to depict the various divisions advancing from different directions and within which the pattern suggests the movement of tanks which in superior force Rommel used to this advantage on this occasion. The seven arrowheads with the red white and black colours of the German army, "the seven headed dragon" (Rev. 12 v3) connect with the red borders which twist into the upper sections of the window on the left as the tail of the dragon "drawing one third part of the stars of heaven".

The upper sections of the window should be read as both sea and sky, often indivisible at the horizon, thereby allowing for the concept of the earthly below the heavenly above. Within this area of indeterminate blue there is some indication of movement away from St. Valery, by sea, suggesting the limited escape of those who were later to reform with others to create the new 51st Highland Division which was eventually to return and liberate the town.

At the very top of the window the HD emblem can be seen central to a force of descending forms which by their shape and directional inference could represent the boats to bring the avenging forces of 1944, suggesting the promise of liberation, but also forming a kind of angel wing, a more celestial symbol of the forces of good on high against the evil below. "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon...which was cast out" (Rev. 12 v7.8). "And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony: and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev. 12 v11).

The wording on the Highland Division Monument reads:

Main view of the Dunkirk Memorial

The Dunkirk Memorial columns cite the names of the BEF men who died in 1939 or 1940 and who have no known resting place. Within the covered pavilion is a book containing the names of all those who are buried in the cemetery or whose names are listed on the columns of the memorial.

Most of the 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry fallen are included on column 6. BK Tighe's name is on column 3 and Addie Thorburn-Brown's name is on column 96. The following are included on columns 3, 6 and 96 (names in blue are pictured below):
Troopers Baillie, Brydon, Danby, Fortune, Graham, Graham, Herring, Jones, Queen, Sime, Took, White;
Lance Corporal Wilson;
Corporals Brown, Roberts;
Lance Sergeant Grant;
Sergeant Cormack;
Lieutenants Dundas, Thorburn-Brown, Tighe.

Column 6

Column 3

Column 96

There are some anomalies on Column 6. Sergeant Ian Grant, for example, was killed on the Saar and buried on the Saar. It seems that his body must have been moved at some later stage but its current resting palce is not known since the Dunkirk memorial states the names of those men who have no resting place.

1LBY on the Dunkirk Memorial: Ian Grant, Kenny Bain, Ken Roberts, Addie Thorburn-Brown, EJ White, Bob Brydon, Gordon Fortune, Piper Wilson.