This cenotaph type memorial is located in Christie Park, Alexandria, Dunbartonshire. It is dedicated to the men of Bonhill Parish. Alexandria, three or so miles from Dumbarton, is the biggest town in the Vale of Leven. (Mail has been said to have been re-directed from Egypt stamped with the words”Try Scotland.”) Bonhill lies over the river Leven from Alexandria.

War Memorial in situ:-

Closer view:-

Names for Great War  above, World War 2 below.

Dedications:-

Names on Reverse of Memorial. Great War above, Second World War below:-

North aspect:-

Great War 100th anniversary bench in Christie Park:-

One of the places we visited on West Dunbartonshire’s Open Day last September was the Masonic Lodge in Gilmour Street, Alexandria. It was originally built as the Ewing Gilmour Institute for Working Girls in 1888 but by 1915 it had become the “Bonhill and Alexandria St Andrew’s Royal Arch Lodge, No. 321.”

It’s fairly imposing from the outside (this is a stitch of two photos to get it all in):-

However the interior is amazing. Murals adorn the corridor’s walls. This one is above the entranceway:-

The paintings were all done by Harrington Mann and we were told the model for all the female figures was a girl from the school.

Corridor window. Note the 1888 on the run-off collector above the rone pipe to left:-

The main hall is impressive:-

Close-up on mural above fireplace and below clock:-

The hall has a hammerbeam roof:-

There was a craft sale on that day. I had to drape back some of the items for sale in order to photograph the Lodge’s Roll of Honour:-