Community payback team's helping hand at World War II memorial garden in Wick
Volunteers who look after Wick's World War II memorial garden are being given a helping hand this summer by the local community payback team.
Clients sentenced by Wick Sheriff Court to carry out unpaid work have taken on the task of cutting the grass at the site in Bank Row which commemorates the victims of two air raids.
"The memorial garden is a significant site of remembrance," said Steve MacDonald, community payback officer at the Criminal Justice Service.
"It is in the heart of the community, and the clients who have been sentenced to carry out unpaid work in the community by Wick Sheriff Court take great pride in tending to the grass and helping to keep the garden looking pristine.
"It’s important that members of the public see the benefits of the unpaid work carried out by our clients and get a full appreciation of the work they carry out to pay back the community they have offended against."
The garden was created on the site where 15 people, including eight children, lost their lives in an air raid in July 1940. It commemorates the victims of that attack as well as the three people who died in October the same year in a raid on Hill Avenue, near the town’s RAF base.
It is cared for by volunteers from the community group Second World War Air Raid Victims Wick.
Yvonne Hendry, the group's secretary, said: "We're delighted that the Criminal Justice Service is working with us to cut the grass regularly through the summer months. It's nice to see it being kept so neat and tidy and we're grateful for all their hard work."
She added: "Groups of local primary school children have visited the garden recently as part of class projects, which is good to see, and quite a lot of tourists have been coming in. Everyone is welcome to spend some time in the garden – all we ask is that they treat it with respect."
The garden was officially opened in 2010 on a site that had lain derelict for many years. A small team of volunteers carry out regular planting and maintenance.
Individual stones embedded in a drystone wall are engraved with the victims' first names.
